The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has carried out an extended debt service relief for 28 low income countries. The extended debt relief is the second six month tranche under the Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT) and will continue until April of next year; 2021.
The move is expected to help the low income countries better handle the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) approval of the debt relief will help facilitate the payment of grants from the Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT) for the disbursement of all eligible debt due to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from the 14th of October 2020 to the 13th of April 2021. The grants are estimated at 227 million dollars.
The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved the first six month tranche on the 13th of April 2020 which has a timeframe of 14th of April 2020 to 13th of October 2020.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s most vulnerable and poorest members will be the countries who will receive the grants. These countries are The Gambia, Comoros, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Rwanda, Central African Republic, Tajikistan, Chad, Mali, Yemen, Guinea, Mozambique, Benin, Malawi, Guinea-Bissau, Solomon Islands, Burkina Faso, Nepal, Haiti, the Democratic Republic of Congo, São Tomé and Príncipe, Liberia, Madagascar, Niger, and Togo.
The Managing Director; Kristalina Georgieva has in line with the approval of the first six month tranche, launched a fundraising effort to help the Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT) in the facilitation of the provision of debts service relief for not more than a maximum of two years and to also ensure that the Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT) has sufficient funding to cater to needs that could arise in the future.
The fundraising effort will need a commitment of around 1.4 billion dollars and already has donors who have put forward grant contributions of around 510 million dollars including the Netherlands, Malta, the United Kingdom (UK), Switzerland, Luxembourg, Germany, Bulgaria, Japan, Norway, Sweden, and China.
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