Islamabad: Pakistan has submitted formal requests for debt relief with the individual members of G-20 nations with a commitment to not contract new non-concessional loans, except those allowed under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB) guidelines – a news source reported.
The requests were submitted under the G-20 COVID-19 Debt Service Suspension Initiative. At the same time, Pakistan has also informed IMF, WB and Paris Club of its intentions to request the debt relief.
Pakistan has to pay USD 20.7 billion to 11 countries in the G-20 group. Nearly USD 1.8 billion out of that (including interest) will mature by the end of this year.
According to details, G-20 nations had paused the debt repayment for a period of eight months between May 2020 and December 2020.
Each individual nation was, however, required to submit formal requests for the purpose. Additionally, the beneficiaries would also agree to not contract new debts during this period, other than in packages under IMF’s Debt Limit Policy or WB’s policy on non-concessional borrowing.
