Iraq restructures almost $20 bln Saddam-era debt
Jul 20 2006 14:22
LONDON, July 20 (Reuters) - Iraq has concluded its programme to restructure Saddam-era commercial debt, having retired almost $20 billion over the past eleven months, one of the country's financial advisors Citigroup, said.
The bank said in a statement Iraq had completed the process after two rounds of debt-for-debt exchange, four rounds of cash buybacks and an arbitration process addressing previously unreconciled claims.
Almost 500 commercial claimants participated in the programme under which claims worth $19.7 billion against Iraq and Iraqi public sector entiities were retired, the bank said in the statement, sent on Wednesday.
Alnost 12,000 individual Saddam-era commercial claims were cancelled as a result of the process, it added.
"The enormous and unsustainable debt stock accumulated by the Saddam regime has now been reduced to the point that it will not deter the new investment needed to finance Iraq's economic reconstruction" Iraq's central bank governor Sinan al-Shabibi said in the same statement.
Last month, following an arbitration process, Iraq added $131 million to its 2028 2.6 billion eurobond, which was issued in January 2006 to restructure $14 billion worth of claims <IQ024029557=>.
The country also settled $2.7 billion worth of commercial clains in cash in February.
Citigroup and JP Morgan were Iraq's financial advisors for the debt restructuring. ((Reporting by Sujata Rao London newsroom +44 20 7542 6176 [email protected]))
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