$107m debt relief pact inked with France

TAHIR AMIN

ISLAMABAD: The government of Pakistan has signed a debt service suspension agreement with the French Republic, amounting to the suspension of loans worth $107 million, under the G-20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) framework.

This amount, initially repayable between July and December 2021 will now be repaid over a period of six years (including a one-year grace period) in semi-annual instalments, said the Economic Affairs Division.

The agreement was signed by Mian Asad Hayauddin, Federal Secretary for the Economic Affairs Division and Nicolas Galey, the Ambassador of the French Republic to Pakistan here on Monday.

The government has already signed agreements with the French Republic for a suspension of $261 million. Due to the support extended by the development partners of Pakistan, the G-20 DSSI has provided the fiscal space which was necessary to deal with the urgent health and economic needs of Pakistan.

The total amount of debt that has been suspended and rescheduled under the DSSI framework, covering the period from May 2020 to December 2021, stands at $3.688 billion.

Pakistan has already concluded and signed 93 agreements with 21 bilateral creditors for the rescheduling of its debts under the G-20 DSSI framework, amounting to a rescheduling of almost $3.150 billion. The signing of the above-mentioned agreements brings this total to $3.257 billion. Negotiations for remaining agreements to be signed under the G-20 DSSI are ongoing, stated the Economic Affairs Division in an official handout.