Weekly Report - 9 March 2004

NICARAGUA | Paris Club debt write-off. The Paris Club of bilateral debtors has agreed to write off US$902m of Nicaragua's bilateral debt (though individual creditors might raise that total by an additional US$142m). Since the end of 1999 Nicaragua's Paris Club debt has been reduced by 96% (about US$1.26bn), and its service has fallen from US$37m to US$1.5m a year. At the end of last year, Nicaragua's external debt stood at US$6.7bn.

CARIBBEAN | Graduating out of preferences. Two Caribbean countries — Antigua & Barbuda and Barbados — are about to pay the price of economic success. The US government has announced that as a result of being re-designated `high-income' countries, from 1 January 2006 they will lose their entitlement to the benefits granted to developing countries under the generalised system of preferences.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC | Free zones recover. In the first nine months of last year, activity in the Dominican Republic's free zones expanded by 4.7% on the same period of 2002, offsetting a fair share of the 9.1% decline recorded in the previous year. The national council for free zones, CNZFE, reports that over the past three years, 288 new companies have set up shop in these zones, generating some US$197m in extra export earnings.