Peru and Cote D'Ivoire go begging for funds to pay debts

The leaders of Peru and Cote D'Ivoire travel to Washington and Brussels respectively, in search of funds to help repay their heavy debts. The Peruvian interim Economics Minister Javier Silva Ruete visited Washington this last week to seek at least $600 million in credits from the IMF, World Bank and Inter American Development Bank. Mr. Ruete also met with US Treasury and State Department officials.

Peru, with a $54 billion economy, has a foreign public sector debt of about $19billion, which costs $2.1 bn a year to service in principal and interest payments. Total public and private debt is $27.46bn - equivalent to 51% of Peru's GDP. As he left Lima, late last Tuesday for Washington, Mr. Javier Silva Ruete said: "I am seeking these credits to be used as new resources and to be able to pay the debt longer term and to reduce the pressure on the economy to reasonable levels."

In Washington Mr. Silva Ruete signed a letter of intent with the IMF, committing the Peruvian government to cutting its government deficit by up to 1.5 percentage points.

At the same time it was announced that the Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo is expected to visit France in March to seek help for the repayment of Cote D'Ivoire's debts. Economics Minister Paul Bohoun Bouabre said: "With our limited resources we haven't the means to pay back these arrears. We will turn towards friendly countries, in particular France" Rueters and Dow Jones report.