Guatemala City ? The Inter-American Development Bank announced Friday it would forgive $4.4 billion in debt owed by five of the poorest countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The bank excused the foreign debts of Bolivia, Honduras, Nicaragua, Haiti and Guyana in an announcement ahead of its annual meeting, which starts Monday.

Honduras shed $1.4 billion in debt, Bolivia $1 billion, Nicaragua $984 million and Guyana $467 million. The initiative is retroactive to Jan. 1, 2007.

Haiti, which is part of the International Monetary Fund’s Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, will be able to get rid of $20 million of its debt by 2009, and after that it can shed the entire $525 million.

Under the deal, the IDB will forgive some $3.4 billion in principal payments and $1 billion in interest.

The bank also will provide funding to Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Paraguay and Suriname to let those countries free resources for education, health care and other services.