Washington | Wednesday
THE IMF and World Bank agreed on Tuesday to give Mozambique $600-million in special relief to ease its debt servicing burden.
Mozambique had taken the required steps to complete its program under the so-called enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, drawn up to ease the debt burden of the world’s poorest countries.
It was the third country after Bolivia and Uganda to reach the completion point, the IMF said in a statement.
As a result of assistance and bilateral debt relief already committed, Mozambique’s total external debt would be reduced by some 73%, it said.
Additional bilateral relief could raise that figure.
Countries qualifying for the initiative must complete an action plan for the reduction of absolute poverty, implement strong IMF-supported economic policies and pursue robust social policies.
Some three dozen poor countries, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, are expected to qualify for assistance under the initiative, the IMF said.
Debt relief packages were in place for 23 countries under the enhanced initiative’s framework: Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Honduras, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Niger, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
The total committed assistance is estimated at more than $34-billion. When combined with other sources of debt relief, it represented an average stock-of-debt reduction of nearly two-thirds, the IMF said. – AFP