Groups such as Drop the Debt and Oxfam received extra support from Whitehall last night, as chancellor Gordon Brown showed his concern for findings by the IMF and World Bank.

A working party studying the 22 countries assisted by the HIPC initiative has revealed that forecasts for economic growth in these countries were too high, prompting concerns that funds already donated would be insufficient to relieve the huge debts, particularly when some countries have been badly affected by the HIV epidemic.

These findings raise doubts over the amounts of relief that the world bank could release to these economies, questions about which will be raised at a spring meeting this weekend.

Meanwhile, the campaign groups continue to call for 100 per cent debt relief in the HIPC countries.