The International Monetary Fund (IMF) picked 28 countries that are to benefit from the US$142.7M debt relief program and Rwanda and Tanzania are drawing benefits.In the East Africa region, Rwanda led the as the country that enjoyed the highest debt relief of $71.23 million while Tanzania followed at US$26.43M, Burundi at US$25.42M and Ethiopia at US$19.71M. South Sudan, Kenya and Uganda were not part of the selected 28 countries.This comes after Bretton Woods institution which now plays a central role in the management of balance of payments difficulties and international financial crises, approved the third tranche of grants for debt service relief for 28 member countries under the Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT).In April and October last year, two tranches were approved which now facilitates the disbursement of grants under the CCRT for payments of all eligible debt service totalling US$238M which are due from the poorest and most vulnerable IMF member countries from April to October this year.Under the first two six-month tranches that expired in April this year, Tanzania enjoyed US$26M in relief.Source: Brookings“This tranche of grants for debt service relief will continue to help free up scarce financial resources for vital emergency health, social, and economic support to mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic,” IMF said.It also added that from October 2021 to April 2022, the subject to the availability of sufficient resources in the CCRT debt service could be provided totalling US$964M.

Source: Further Africa