An 80 percent debt relief will be granted by Saudi Arabia to Iraq, who owes the Saudis more than 15 billion U.S. dollars, a senior Saudi official said here on Wednesday.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal confirmed the decision at a joint press conference with Arab League (AL) Secretary General Amr Moussa following the Arab peace initiative committee foreign ministers meeting held earlier at the AL headquarters in Cairo.

The decision to write off 80 percent of Iraq's debt was reached when Saudi Arabia finished the negotiations with Iraq, said al- Faisal.

Earlier, Iraqi Finance Minister Bayan Jabr said that Saudi Arabia refused a request from Iraq to grant a total debt relief on Iraq, which amounts to 15 billion dollars to 18 billion dollars.

So far, 52 countries have cancelled 80 percent to 100 percent of Iraq's debt, while the total debt of the country was estimated at 140 billion dollars, according to Jabr.

Source: Xinhua