Last year, the IDB provided Haiti with US$511 million in debt relief as part of an international agreement that included other multilateral lenders. This relief covered all of Haiti's outstanding debt to the IDB at the end of 2004.

The bank did not say what relief was under consideration.

Since 2007, the IDB has provided only grants to Haiti, totalling US$222 million, the IDB said, and is the largest multilateral source of assistance and debt relief for the poor nation of some eight million people. Haiti is the only country that enjoys grant-only status at the IDB.

It pays about US$10 million annually to the bank in debt servicing costs. The debt is to paid off by 2011.

The IDB said, however, that the liability is "covered by resources from a US-supported fund. Thus, Haiti's debt to the IDB is not causing any outflow of funds from the country nor adversely affecting its ability to confront its emergency."

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