Islamabad: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) recently allowed the Economic Affairs Division (EAD) to sign an ‘in principle’ memorandum of understanding (MoU) for availing the Group-20 (G-20) debt relief offer, a news source reported.
As per the publication, Pakistan is expected to sign the said MoU with all official bilateral creditors to participate in the G-20 debt relief — which was announced due to the negative economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The MoU for the G-20 debt relief initiative is subject to further approval from the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the federal cabinet.
Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh confirmed that the federal government previously had no plans to seek relief for repayment of its commercial debts. Pakistan was expected to return USD 1.8 billion debt out of USD 20.7 billion by the end of 2020 to 11 countries belonging to the G-20. However, since the G-20 decided to offer debt relief to developing countries, Pakistan’s debt will also be rescheduled after the MoU in this regard is signed and approved by the federal cabinet.
