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LAGOS, April 19(Xinhua)-- The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund(IMF) have identified 11 countries that could qualify for the 21 billion U.S. dollars debt relief under a new round of the 1996 Heavily Indebted Poor Countries(HIPC) initiative. According to a World Bank statement made available here on Wednesday, the 11 countries are the Central African Republic, Comoros, and Cote d'Ivoire, Liberia, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Eritrea, Haiti, the Kyrgyz Republic and Nepal. The statement said the countries had met the income and indebtedness criteria for HIPC but they would have to implement economic policies and follow some reforms to qualify for the debt relief at the end of three years. The World Bank document said the issue would be discussed by finance leaders at the Spring Meetings of the World Bank and IMF member countries in Washington this weekend. The statement said it was unable to decide if Afghanistan was eligible for debt relief because a large part of its debt was either unverified or in dispute, said the document."Only debt that has been verified and confirmed by the authorities can be treated under the HIPC initiative," said the statement. Enditem
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