The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved additional debt relief for 24 poor counties including Lesotho and Kyrgyzstan to help them cushion the effect of Covid-19 pandemic, according to a statement released Friday.
The Fund provided the debt relief under the Washington-based crisis lender’s Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT), which enables the IMF to provide grants to the poorest and most vulnerable countries hit by a natural disaster or public health crisis.
The IMF said the relief was the fourth approved since the pandemic began and totaled $124 million.
“This debt service relief helps free up scarce financial resources for vital health, social and economic support to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the Fund said.
According to the IMF, the relief covers payments due through January 10 of next year, and the IMF said it may also extend the relief till April 13, the two-year anniversary of the first tranche of aid. If it did so, total relief would amount to $973 million.
The Fund said Lesotho and Kyrgyzstan were added because they “meet the eligibility and qualification requirements for CCRT debt service relief in connection with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Besides those two, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Nepal, Niger, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands and Tajikistan received aid.
Afghanistan, which had previously received relief, would not be getting aid this round because /here remains a lack of clarity within the international community regarding the recognition of the government in Afghanistan. The Fund’s engagement with Afghanistan continues to be on pause” said the statement.