Discarding their previous objections, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank gave the green light on Thursday to a British proposal to pay off about $40 billion that the world's poorest nations, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa, owe to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Adding to the momentum for greater debt relief, Treasury Secretary John W. Snow said for the first time that the United States would consider 100 percent debt relief when it met with its partners in the Group of 7 wealthiest industrial nations this week.