Caritas welcomes the IMF's decision this week to lend earthquake-stricken Haiti US$102 million on highly concessional terms, but we are disappointed that it was not possible at the same time to cancel Haiti's outstanding debts to the IMF.

The appalling images coming out of Port-au-Prince show that it will be many years before Haiti will be in a position to service any international loans. That is why Caritas is joining campaigners from around the world who are calling for immediate debt cancellation.

Chris Bain, the Director of CAFOD (A Caritas member in England and Wales), said "Vague promises of future debt cancellation are not enough. Haiti must be free to heal its wounds, rebuild and reconstruct confident that it is not building up debt obligations in the future."

The managing director of the IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn has given his support to efforts to cancel Haiti's debts and has said that "IMF is now working with all donors to try to delete all the Haitian debt, including our new loan."

But this debt cancellation could come in five years time when Haiti will be due to start repayments - but five years from now the world will be coping with new emergencies and the spotlight of public attention will have moved away from Haiti.

Caritas says the time for debt cancellation is now. Caritas urges the IMF and other donors to ensure that the burden of debt is lifted from Haiti as it struggles to rebuild - a task that will take decades and billions of dollars.

The World Bank (owed $39 million) and Inter-American Development Bank (owed $447 million) have also expressed support for debt cancellation, though have yet to formally agree a deal.

For more information, please contact Patrick Nicholson - nicholson@caritas.va - 0039 3343590700