Ministers have established the framework for a deal on debt, with finer details still to be agreed, participants told AFP.

"We are in the process of obtaining it (the deal)," a European source said.

"The most likely outcome is that we will conclude a deal today," the source added.

A Canadian spokesman said: "There seems to be a general agreement on the overall framework of an agreement. Details are subject to discussions." A source with the German delegation was also upbeat.

Group of Eight ministers were aiming to hammer out a landmark deal that would forgive the crippling debt of the world's most impoverished nations, while also focusing on global economic concerns at the pre-G8 summit meeting.

"Growth is expected to remain robust, although at a more moderate pace, in 2005," according to an official statement from the finance chiefs.

"Challenges remain, especially persistent global imbalances and high and volatile oil prices," it added.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, hosting the meeting in London ahead of next month's G8 summit in Scotland, said ministers were discussing a US-British deal to immediately write off 40 billion dollars (33 billion euros) of debt owed by 18 countries to the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the African Development Bank.