Ms. Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), announced on Monday that the Fund had approved immediate debt service relief to 25 of the IMF’s member countries under the IMF’s revamped Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT). The 19 African countries that will receive debt service relief are Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone and Togo. Other countries are Afghanistan, Yemen, Tajikistan and Nepal in Asia as well as Haiti in North America and Solomon Islands in Oceania. “The CCRT can currently provide about US$500 million in grant-based debt service relief, including the recent US$185 million pledge by the UK and US$100 million provided by Japan as immediately available resources. “I urge other donors to help us replenish the Trust’s resources and boost further our ability to provide additional debt service relief for a full two years to our poorest member countries,” she added.

Source: The North Africa Journal April 13, 2020 20:54 UTC