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From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Tue Feb 22 2011 - 19:21:42 EST
"Other big debtors are Ethiopia, which owes $249 million and Mozambique,
with $211 million to pay back, according to a copy of the document obtained
by Reuters."
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/Libya+offering+billions+loans/4255621/story.html
Libya offering billions in loans
Reuters February 10, 2011
Libya has handed out more than $2 billion US in loans to dozens of
governments across the globe, according to an internal document that shows
the oil exporter's diplomatic ambitions and its struggles to recover its
debts.
Libya's foreign lending also shines a light on its attempts, before it
emerged from decades of international isolation six years ago, to goad
Washington by lending to U.S. foes such as Nicaragua, Cuba and the former
Yugoslavia.
"This was a period when . (Libyan leader Moammar) Gadhafi was looking for
anything that could upset the apple cart," said Dirk Vandewalle, a Libya
scholar at Dartmouth College in the U.S.
The document, drafted by Libya's foreign ministry and presented to the
Peoples Congresses, or grassroots lawmaking bodies, says Libya has provided
loans to around 40 countries worth a total of $2.197 billion.
As of the end of 2009, Libya had been paid back $1.302 billion, leaving an
outstanding balance, when interest is included, of $3.231 billion, it said.
The biggest debtor mentioned in the document is Libya's neighbour Sudan with
an outstanding balance of $1.287 billion, part of Sudan's debilitating
external debt of almost $40 billion.
"We are seeking to have (all of Sudan's) . loans forgiven because we believe
that both governments, the Government of Sudan and the would-be Government
of South Sudan, would not be in a position to repay these loans in the near
future," Marial Awour, Libya's junior minister of finance, said.
Sudan's south is on course to secede from the mainly Muslim north after a
referendum on independence.
Other big debtors are Ethiopia, which owes $249 million and Mozambique, with
$211 million to pay back, according to a copy of the document obtained by
Reuters.
It lists 15 countries which have paid back none of their loans and another
10 -including Nicaragua and Cuba -which it said started repaying the loans
but then stopped. Many of the loans are interest-free, especially those to
African and Arab countries.
The document, which does not detail when the loans were made, lists credit
provided to Poland, Hungary, the former Yugoslavia, Pakistan, Cuba and
Nicaragua.
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