Modification of the Enhanced HIPC Initiative

The Secretary of the Treasury should immediately commence efforts within the Paris Club of Official Creditors, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Monetary Fund, and other appropriate multilateral development institutions to modify the Enhanced HIPC Initiative so that the amount of debt stock reduction approved for a country eligible for debt relief under the Enhanced HIPC Initiative shall be sufficient to reduce, for each of the first 3 years after May 27, 2003, or the Decision Point, whichever is later— the net present value of the outstanding public and publicly guaranteed debt of the country— the annual payments due on such public and publicly guaranteed debt to not more than— In financing the objectives of the Enhanced HIPC Initiative, an international financial institution shall give priority to using its own resources. Debt cancellation under the modifications to the Enhanced HIPC Initiative described in subsection (a) should not be conditioned on any agreement by an impoverished country to implement or comply with policies that deepen poverty or degrade the environment, including any policy that— A country shall not be eligible for cancellation of debt under modifications to the Enhanced HIPC Initiative described in subsection (a) if the government of the country— A country that is otherwise eligible to receive cancellation of debt under the modifications to the Enhanced HIPC Initiative described in subsection (a) may receive such cancellation only if the country has agreed— In this section: The term “country suffering a public health crisis” means a country in which the HIV/AIDS infection rate, as reported in the most recent epidemiological data for that country compiled by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, is at least 5 percent among women attending prenatal clinics or more than 20 percent among individuals in groups with high-risk behavior. The term “Decision Point” means the date on which the executive boards of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Monetary Fund review the debt sustainability analysis for a country and determine that the country is eligible for debt relief under the Enhanced HIPC Initiative. The term “Enhanced HIPC Initiative” means the multilateral debt initiative for heavily indebted poor countries presented in the Report of G–7 Finance Ministers on the Cologne Debt Initiative to the Cologne Economic Summit, Cologne, June 18–20, 1999.