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UNCTAD Secretary-General Supachai Panitchpakdi calls for temporary moratorium on official debt servicing for low-income countries hard hit by financial and economic crisis - urging that the declining foreign exchange earnings of indebted low-income countries bes used for imports purchases rather than debt servicing. This statement was made at the Economic and Social Council meeting on April 27 this week among the World Bank, IMF, WTO and UNCTAD, which focused on the development crisis being caused by the financial/economic crisis. Supachai also stated that IMF funding should allow for countercyclical fiscal measures that stimulate demand in and expand developing country economies, rather than what they are currently doing - reducing public spending and raising interest rates.

Also in the news, Representative Barney Frank (Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee) announced to Reuters that he will only support IMF gold sales if $4 billion of the proceeds go to the poorest countries - a position that Rep. Frank confirms is also supported by the US Treasury.

Further, HIPC finance ministers in the Commonwealth's "Joint Ministerial Forum on Debt Sustainability" announced in their 23 April communique: "Ministers strongly welcomed a new proposal made after the G20 meeting to augment the resources provided to developing countries in the crisis through the provision of further debt relief for the duration of the crisis financed through the sale of IMF gold reserves".

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