Relief for Whom? AT the just concluded Cologne meeting of G-7, the group of seven industrial countries, it has been agreed to extend debt relief of $ 70 billion to 41 heavily indebted poor countries (HIPCs). The plan, will cover $ 50 billion in government guaranteed loans extended at commercial rates and $ 20 billion in official development assistance, lent on soft terms. Some forty-one HIPCs together owe an estimated amount of $ 220 billion in foreign debt. The debt relief now agreed upon by G-7 would thus work out to an average relief of the extent of 32 per cent.