Accra, Jan. 17, GNA - Ghana on Tuesday suggested January 2004 as the cut-off date for the cancellation of debt owed to the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group.

In a discussion preceding the signing of a 200 million-euro loan agreement between Ghana and France, Mr Kwadwo Baah Wiredu, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, asked France to use its influence in the G8 to make the AfDB to ag ree to make January 2004 the cut-off date for the debt forgiveness.

The Minister noted that Ghana would prefer the 2004 as against the January 2003 mentioned at last December's G8 meeting in Washington D.C. "We are expecting that the African Development Bank would follow the example of the IMF, which has fixed its cut-off date for debt owed at 2004."

Ghana is to benefit 570 million dollars from the Bank. Mr Baah-Wiredu congratulated France for its cooperation with Ghana and said the country had already started benefiting from the debt cancellation promised by the IMF. 17 Jan. 06