The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Wednesday that it has approved 3.3 billion dollars in debt relief for 19 of the world's poorest countries.

The 19 countries approved for the debt relief by the IMF executive board were Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guyana, Honduras, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Cambodia and Tajikistan.

It also predicted that Mauritania would qualify for the relief in a matter of weeks.

"This is an historic moment, which will allow these countries to increase spending in priority areas to reduce poverty," IMF Managing Director Rodrigo Rato said in a statement after the IMF executive board approved the relief.

The IMF debt relief was part of a larger debt relief package that first won endorsement by leaders of industrial countries at the annual Group of Eight economic summit last July and the IMF approved the plan in its annual meeting in September.

The agreement will forgive 40-billion-dollar debt of the poorest countries to the IMF, the World Bank and the African Development Bank.

Source: Xinhua