ADB okays $500m loan to help corona response
Paris
The Paris Club of creditor nations have agreed to suspend debt service payments from Pakistan, Chad, Ethiopia and the Republic of Congo as part of a G20 debt relief deal, the group said.
The Group of 20 leading economies and the Paris Club, an informal group of state creditors coordinated by the French finance ministry, agreed in April to freeze debt payments of the 77 poorest countries this year to free up cash to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
The latest agreements bring to 12 the number of countries to receive debt relief under the deal with a total of $1.1 billion in debt deferred as a result, the Paris Club said, adding 30 countries had requested to benefit. Earlier in May, Pakistan formally requested members of G-20 nations for debt relief with a commitment of not contracting new non-concessional loans, except those allowed under the International Monetary Fund and World Bank guidelines.
The formal requests were sent to individual countries under the G-20 Covid-19 Debt Service Suspension Initiative.
Pakistan had also intimated to the IMF, the World Bank and the Paris Club about its decision to formally seek debt relief. Last month, the IMF’s Resident Representative to Pakistan Teresa Daban had said that Pakistan did not officially make any request to G-20 countries for debt relief.
Meanwhile, the Asian Development Bank has approved a loan worth $500 million to Pakistan to help the country’s coronavirus health and economic response and “protect poor” citizens, it said in a statement issued Wednesday.
The development — part of the COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support (CARES) Programme — comes following a meeting of the ADB’s Board of Directors in Philippines’ capital, Manila.In its statement, the bank said the loan would help the Pakistani government “deliver social protection programs to the poor and vulnerable, expand health sector capabilities
