The world’s poorest countries could save more than $12 billion (9.71 billion pounds) owed this year by engaging in a debt relief scheme to the sovereign and other creditors, with Angola alone saving some $3.4 billion, a recent World Bank report estimates.
Also, the savings under the Covid-19 related Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) would be short-term, as the program only allows for debt suspension until year-end. It delays those payments until a later date but refuses to cancel them immediately.
According to the results, Pakistan will be the second-largest saver among qualifying DSSI countries, with $2.4 billion, after Kenya with $802 million. Officials from the IMF and the World Bank warned that given the high debt levels, the Covid-19 pandemic will hit developing and emerging markets particularly hard;
sharp drops in oil and other commodity prices and insufficient health systems.
The DSSI is funded by sovereign borrowers from the G-20, the World Bank, the IMF, and the Paris Club. The database offers a new level of accountability regarding debts and creditors, including China, which over the past two decades has been one of Africa’s largest creditors and elsewhere.
Extracted from City42 News
