Simon Ateba is Chief White House Correspondent for Today News Africa covering President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, U.S. government, UN, IMF, World Bank and other financial and international institutions in Washington and New York.
The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund on Wednesday, March 24, granted additional interim assistance to Somalia under the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative in an amount of about $0.97 million on a lapse of time basis.
“This interim assistance will cover Somalia’s debt service obligations to the Fund for the period March 25, 2021 through March 24, 2022,” the IMF said.
Interim assistance under the enhanced HIPC Initiative is debt relief granted on a country’s debt service falling due between the HIPC Decision and Completion Points. Once a country reaches the HIPC Completion Point, it will receive the full debt relief committed at the HIPC Decision Point.
The Executive Board takes decisions under its lapse of time procedure when the Board agrees that a proposal can be considered without convening formal discussions.
On March 25, 2020, the Executive Board approved that Somalia had reached the HIPC Decision Point. At the same time, the Board approved three-year arrangements under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) and Extended Fund Facility (EFF) (see Press Release No 20/105 ). The Board also approved interim assistance in the amount of about US$ 1.5 million for the period March 25, 2020–March 24, 2021.
The first ECF review was completed on November 18, 2020. Performance under the ECF-supported program has been satisfactory and Somalia continues to make progress on debt rescheduling and other reforms needed to reach the HIPC Completion Point.