The International Monetary Fund on Monday approved the disbursement of new emergency aid for 28 of the poorest countries in the world to enable them to reduce their debt and better cope with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic .
This announcement, which follows an identical measure decreed in mid-April for 25 countries, should help these countries to cover the repayments of their debt to the IMF for the next six months and "free up their meager resources for their efforts in terms of medical and aid emergency ”in the face of the pandemic.
The 28 countries benefiting from this second tranche of aid are Afghanistan, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, DR Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea , Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Togo and Yemen.
Mali, which is also eligible for this aid, has not yet been added to this list, because "there is a lack of clarity as to whether the international community recognizes / treats the current military regime as the government Mali, ”says the IMF.
Contributions of $ 506.5 million
This debt relief is channeled through the Disaster Assistance and Response Trust Fund (ARC Trust Fund), which allows the IMF to provide grants to the poorest and most vulnerable countries hit by natural or public health disasters. with disastrous consequences.
Subject to sufficient resources from the ARC Trust Fund, grants could be made for a period of two years, until mid-April 2022, for a total estimated amount of $ 959 million.
The IMF's goal is to endow the ARC trust fund with $ 1.4 billion so that it can also meet needs in the future.
So far, the amount of contributions amounted to 506.5 million dollars, coming from several countries, including the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Norway, China, Mexico, Sweden, Bulgaria, Luxembourg and Malta.
