ThePunch reported that International Monetary Fund has granted debt relief to 25 countries, mostly African nations excluding Nigeria.
A statement by the Managing Director of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva, said it would provide $500m in grant-based debt service relief to these countries.
“Today, I am pleased to say that our executive board approved immediate debt service relief to 25 of the IMF’s member countries under the IMF’s revamped Catastrophe Containment and Relief
Trust as part of the Fund’s response to help address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” she said.
It listed the beneficiaries as Afghanistan, Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, D.R., The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Tajikistan, Togo and Yemen.
Meanwhile, the fund has advised commercial banks to restructure loans in a bid to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
