World Bank, IMF clear Somalia for debt relief

The apex bank in the world and the International Monetary Fund - IMF have announced that Somalia is eligible for billions of US dollars in debt relief, the BBC reports.

The country's debt is set to be reduced from $5.2bn (£4.3bn) to just a tenth of that over the next three years.

Somali's inability to repay loans since the beginning of the civil war 30 years ago stiffened their hopes of accessing loans from international lenders.

However, with this development, the government can acquire funds needed to improve services across the country, the BBC added.

The announcement is expected to see the country's debt reduced from $5.2bn (£4.3bn) to just a tenth of that over the next three years.

World Bank’s Somalia country representative Hugh Riddell said that "the structure is that the country delivers reforms, it negotiates debt relief conditions with its creditors and once those conditions have been delivered, debt relief is then provided," Mr Riddell said.

Reacting to the development, Somali Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire it was like “a second liberation after the first which was the independence of the country, to reach where we have reached".

"The timing is also at time we are going through a difficult challenge…the resources we will have access to through the financial institutions and the development partners will give our country an opportunity to provide services to our people and more importantly to combat the coronavirus that is terrorising our global order."

"In a country like ours that is having challenges in security and terrorism, we’ve put in place strategies that mean you defeat terrorism through economic growth, through empowering youth and women, through creating jobs and allocation of resources in a fair and transparent manner."

BBC