Mauritania qualified for the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) in June, cancelling debt to the African Development Bank, IMF and World Bank. Although it had completed the Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) programme, Mauritania did not initially qualify for MDRI relief when it was introduced at the beginning of 2006 because there were outstanding issues relating to the implementation of public financial management reforms and the tracking of social expenditures. However with the implementation of the required remedial actions and six months of satisfactory macro performance, Mauritania has now qualified.

End August, Malawi qualified for cancellation of $2.9 billion in debt owed to the World Bank and IMF, having completed the HIPC initiative.