Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria has been exempted from an immediate debt service relief of six months by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The IMF on Monday announced the 25 countries it granted debt relief to and Nigeria, which claims to be the giant of Africa and the continent’s largest economy, was excluded.
The grant was under the fund’s Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT).
The Executive Board of IMF, in a statement yesterday, said it approved the relief for the Bretton Woods institution as part of response to help address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on vulnerable nations.
In the statement signed by the Managing Director of the IMF, Ms Kristalina Georgieva, it was stated that the relief, “Provides grants to our poorest and most vulnerable members to cover their IMF debt obligations for an initial phase over the next six months.”
It explained that this “will help them channel more of their scarce financial resources towards vital emergency medical and other relief efforts.”
“The CCRT can currently provide about 500 million dollars in grant-based debt service relief, including the recent $185 million pledge by the United Kingdom and $100 million provided by Japan as immediately available resources.
“Others, including China and the Netherlands, are also stepping forward with important contributions,” the IMF chief stated.
Ms Georgieva urged other donors to help the IMF boost the Trust’s resources and further strengthen its ability to provide additional debt service relief for a full two years to its poorest member countries.
The countries that would receive debt service relief are: Afghanistan, Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, The Gambia and Guinea.
Others are Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Tajikistan, Togo and Yemen.
Out of this 25 countries, 19 are African countries and this will help cushion against an expected recession due to the stalling of economic activities due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The IMF is an organisation of 189 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth and reduce poverty around the world.
