G7 say they'll cancel Haiti debt

The world's seven most industrialised countries vowed on Saturday they would each cancel their nation's remaining bilateral debt with quake-hit Haiti, Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said.

The "G7 will cancel all Haiti bilateral debt," he told a press conference after two days of G7 talks in northern Canada.

Haiti's debt to the seven nations - Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States - is already relatively small after being reduced by past relief efforts.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: "It must be right that a nation buried in rubble must not also be buried in debt.

Haiti's foreign debt, however, remains at about $US890 million ($A1.03 billion), of which some 41 per cent is owed to the InterAmerican Development Bank and a further 27 per cent to the World Bank.

The Paris Club in June agreed to cancel Haiti's total remaining debt to its members of about $US214 million ($A247.48 million).

France had agreed to gradually wipe out Haiti's debt, but after the devastating January 12 earthquake it cancelled all of the remaining 58 million euros ($A92.18 million) that Haiti owed.

The IMF has recently said it would like to cancel Haiti's debt, but there has been no firm commitment

Anti-poverty campaigners have been scathing at some of the relief effort provided to Haiti, which has come in the form of loans. This, the campaigners say, could lead towards a new debt crisis.