Britain proposes G8 debt relief for tsunami countries

Britain's finance minister Gordon Brown said the freeze on about three billion dollars "initially" in annual debt repayments from the hardest hit nations would be part of a broader package of emergency aid and reconstruction funds.

"What we are suggesting is an immediate moratorium on debt repayments from the afflicted countries," Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown told BBC radio.

"That would then lead to an analysis of the debt needs of these countries with the possibility of some write-off of debt, and at the same to insure that the money goes to the areas and people in greatest need in these countries," Brown said.