The donation, equivalent to 530 million US dollars, does not alter the debt service to the two international financial institutions, as Cape Verde will continue to pay 100% of the debt service - an amount equivalent to approximately US$ 5 million.

The measure is not, as such, a reimbursement or a pardoning of Cape Verde’s debt, but a donation that has emerged as a measure accompanying the pardoning of the debt owed by highly indebted countries that the G8 has implemented. The United Kingdom hopes, in this way, to compensate nations that have become indebted but which follow strict criteria and fulfill requisites such as good governance - the case of Cape Verde and several other African nations that are also receiving donations.

The funds, which will hit the Cape Verdean Treasury within three to ten days, will be channeled into the State Budget. The rules for the utilization of these resources, which come following a memorandum of understanding signed in July, will allow them to be applied according to the country’s growth and poverty-reduction strategy.

Cape Verde will benefit from this support every year for the next 15 years, as long as it continues to maintain its current growth and poverty reduction strategy, according to the World Bank’s evaluation parameters.