Cuba reached an agreement with creditors under which they condone 4,000 million in charges for late payments and Havana returned 2,600 million owed within 18 years, said on Saturday the Finance Minister of France, Michel Sapin. Reuters
In a statement, Sapin noted that of the $ 470 million in capital and interest payments original Cuba owes France $ 240 million will be returned, while the rest will be turned into development projects for Haiti. France is the main creditor of Cuba.
"This agreement opens a new era in relations between Cuba and the international financial community," Sapin said.
The statement did not specify the amount of capital that was forgiven.
Earlier this month, diplomats linked to the negotiations said that Cuba was close to reaching an agreement with 15 creditor nations of the Paris Club to restructure a debt of 16,000 million dollars in default since 1986 and is expected to lenders foregone Havana much of the debt.
A diplomat said that Cuba had agreed to pay 5,000 million dollars of principal due from default in 1986, in exchange for which you forgive 11.000 million in service fees, interest and penalties, adding that negotiations were focused on how long Cuba needed to pay and how much money would be reinvested in the island.
Most creditors are willing to show flexibility due to growing interest in doing business with Cuba, following the approach of the communist authorities in Havana with Washington and to the ongoing reforms underway in Haiti.