The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a third tranche of grants for debt service relief for 28 countries with Nigeria missing from the list in its report released on Monday.
The Fund’s executive board approved the grants under the Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT) for member nations.
The board earlier approved two tranche in April and October, 2020.
The gesture was supposed to help free up scarce financial resources for vital emergency health, social, and economic support to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Fund said the approval will enable the disbursement of grants from the CCRT for payment of all eligible debt service falling due to the IMF from its poorest and most vulnerable members from April 14, 2021 to October 15, 2021, estimated at SDR 168 ($238) million.
It said CCRT, debt service relief could be provided for the remaining period through from October 16, 2021 to April 13, 2022 amounting to a total of about SDR 680 ($964) million subject to availability of funds.
Beneficiaries of previous tranche include Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Tajikistan, Togo and Yemen.
Others are Afghanistan, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, and The Gambia.
