The IMF on Tuesday urged Chad's private creditors to immediately engage in serious discussions to restructure the country's unsustainable debt, a sine qua non for triggering the public aid that N'Djamena sorely needs.
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The International Monetary Fund recalls that in June, an agreement was reached with public creditors within the framework of the Paris Club and the G20. The IMF and N'Djamena had previously reached an agreement for an aid program.
"A credible process of debt restructuring with private creditors is necessary to unlock the public financing that Chad urgently needs
,
"
said Abebe Aemro Selassie, director of the IMF's Africa department in a statement.
“A firm commitment, without further delay, from private creditors to their willingness to negotiate such debt treatments in accordance with what was envisioned in the IMF-supported program would help stimulate efforts for economic recovery and debt reduction. poverty of Chad ”
, he adds.
If he does not name him, the IMF has in its sights the Anglo-Swiss group Glencore, which owns oil assets in the country.
Chad is one of the poorest countries in the world.
And its economic and financial situation
"continues to deteriorate following the combined shocks of the Covid-19 pandemic, the drop in oil prices, climate change and terrorist attacks"
, recalls the head of the institution of Washington.
Debt restructuring
In January, Chad became the first country to request a restructuring of its debt now deemed unsustainable under a new mechanism (DSSI or debt service suspension initiative) established in spring 2020 by the G20 and whose framework was adopted in November. A committee of public creditors within the framework of the Paris Club and the G20, bringing together China, France, India and Saudi Arabia, was set up in April. And in June, an agreement was announced on debt restructuring. This committee had also announced support for an IMF loan program to support Chad.
"Comparable treatment from Chad's private creditors is now necessary,"
said Abebe Aemro Selassie. He adds that
"the international community will follow developments closely and looks forward to concrete progress in the engagement between Chad and its private creditors in the coming days"
. According to IMF data, public debt stood at $ 2.8 billion, or 25.6 percent of GDP, at the end of 2019.