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Cuba reaches debt deal with its creditors - French finance minister


    PARIS (Reuters) - Cuba has reached a deal with its creditors under which they will forgive $4 billion of late payment charges and Cuba will pay $2.6 billion of arrears over an 18-year period, French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said in a statement on Saturday.

    Sapin said that of the $470 million in principal and original interest payments that Cuba owes to France, $240 million will be repaid, while the rest will be converted into development projects for Cuba.

    "This agreement opens a new era in the relations between Cuba and the international financial community," Sapin said.

    France is Cuba's main creditor.

    (Reporting by Geert De Clercq; editing by Andrew Roche)