Hardly noticed amid the hullabaloo of the presidential election, America has just given a big (and belated) boost to the international effort to help the world's poorest debtor countries. On November 6th, President Clinton signed legislation that provided $435m in debt relief for HIPC countries (the ugly acronym by which the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries are known). It also gave America's blessing to the IMF'S plans to use the proceeds of some limited sales of its gold reserves for further debt relief.
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