Pakistan expected to get Paris Club Debt Relief

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FRANCE: A French finance ministry source disclosed that Pakistan has been added to list of countries that may get the Paris Club debt relief this year under a deal with the G20.

The Paris Club is a group of officials from major creditor countries whose role is to find co-ordinated and sustainable solutions to the payment difficulties experienced by debtor countries

The leading economies of G20 and the Paris Club agreed last month to freeze the debt payments of the 77 poorest countries this year to free up cash for them to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the sources, the countries likely to get relief shortly include Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Pakistan and Mauritania.

However, some debtor countries have hesitated to sign up, fearing that it could hurt their credit rating after rating agencies said a failure to pay private creditors who had agreed to suspend debt payments in parallel with the Club could be considered a default. Kenya’s finance minister said last week that this was one of the reasons Nairobi would not apply.