The IMF and the World Bank, facing increasing pressure from campaigners, have announced plans to speed up debt relief to poor countries.

They now say that 20 countries will be approved for debt relief by the end of the year, nearly half of the 41 identified as urgently needing help.

But the Jubilee 2000 campaign, which has been coordinating the debt campaign, says that more money must be forthcoming and more countries included in the plans.

Nevertheless, they are encouraged by the new spirit of dialogue shown by key institutions like the International Monetary Fund.

The new boss of the IMF, Horst Koehler, says he is personally committed to moving further on the issue.

He told a meeting with pressure groups in London:

"I am personally thinking that we could - we should - go further in debt relief."

The deputy director of Jubilee 2000, Adrian Lovett, says he is encouraged by the new attitude, but that Western government and the IMF are still dragging their feet.

He is worried that millions of people are dying unnecessarily because for the world's poorest countries, more money is spent repaying the bills to Western governments and banks than on basic health and education.

The Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) are mainly concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa, where half the population is living on less than $1 a day.

Most of them have suffered a fall in per capita income for the past several decades, and health problems like Aids have dramatically lowered life expectancy.

Timing and conditions

Jubilee 2000, which was set up to ensure that debt relief is completed by the end of the Millennium year, has been disappointed by the long negotiations with poor countries before debt relief is promised.

Western governments say that without strict conditions on the debt relief, there is no guarantee that the poor will benefit.

But less than half of the countries which were identified three years ago are likely to have programmes in place even with the IMF's accelerated programme.

Many of the remaining countries are facing civil wars or conflicts beyond their borders - which the IMF believes rules out their membership in the programme.

UK Chancellor Gordon Brown would like to put conflict resolution firmly on the agenda for the IMF annual meeting, recognising that this issue now has to be tackled directly.

More money, more countries

Campaign groups argue more countries should be covering under the debt relief programme, and that it should be more generous.

Some of the biggest African countries, like Nigeria and Zimbabwe, have been excluded, partly because they potentially have lucrative export earnings which could finance their debt payments.

Campaigners also argue that it is Western governments who are refusing the provide the money so that the IMF and World Bank can offer 100% debt relief on the burdens which many countries will never be able to pay back.

They were bitterly disappointed that the Group of Seven leading industrial countries did little to extend debt relief at their recent summit in Okinawa, Japan.

The Prague meeting will be the last realistic chance this year for a new deal on debt relief - and that is one reason it has become the focus of global protest.