The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a second six-month tranche of debt service relief for 28 member countries, including 22 African nations, under the Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT).

This approval, Development Diaries understands, follows the first six-month tranche approved on 13 April, 2020, to help the countries alleviate their debt and better cope with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Subject to sufficient resources in the CCRT, grants could be provided for a two-year period through mid-April 2022 for an estimated total amount of $959 million.

The 28 countries receiving the second tranche of aid are Afghanistan, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, the Solomon Islands, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Togo and Yemen.

‘Relief on debt service will free up scarce financial resources for vital emergency medical and other relief efforts while these members combat the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic’, IMF said in a statement.

Before the IMF approved the second six-month tranche of debt service relief, the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) had urged governments in Africa to maintain trade flows as much as possible as countries battle to curb the spread of the virus.

In a report, Facilitating cross-border trade through a coordinated African response to Covid-19‘, the ECA called on African governments to adopt and harmonise policies that would help the continent strike a balance between curbing the spread of Covid-19 and facilitating emergency and essential trade.

The ECA noted that continued inefficiencies and disruptions to cross-border trade presented significant challenges for Africa’s fight against the pandemic.

Source: International Monitoring Fund

Photo source: International Monitory Fund