Japan Cancels $3.58 billion of Burma’s Debt

By | Thursday, January 31, 2013 |

Japan officially cancelled US $3.58 billion in debt to support “democratization, national reconciliation, and economic reforms” in Burma, a Japanese Embassy statement said on Wednesday. On Sunday, it was announced that Japan would slash the debt and also provide a bridge loan totaling $900 million to cover Burma’s arrears to the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank. This allowed the banks to offer $938 million in new loans to Burma. Other foreign creditors, grouped in the Paris Club, cancelled a further $3 billion in debt in response to Burma’s ongoing reforms this weekend. The combined agreements result in total debt relief of $6 billion, or 60 percent of foreign debt, the Burmese government has said.