Page 119 - A People Called Afrika

Restoring The Honor Code

the medium term, would provide immediate fiscal space and
liquidity to the Governments, in their efforts to respond to the
COVID-19 pandemic. The interest payments waiver should
include not only interest payments on public debt, but also on
sovereign bonds. For fragile states, the ministers agreed on the
need to consider waiving principal and interest and encourage
the use of existing facilities in the World Bank, International
Monetary Fund (IMF), African Development Bank (AfDB)
and other regional institutions.” According to Alonso Soto and
Selcuk Gokolouk in an article published on bloombergquint.
com on 11th May 2020, titled “Debt Relief Calls Get Cool
Welcome in Some of the Poorest Nations”, “When African
ministers held a video conference call to discuss debt relief
last week, the same concern kept cropping up: how to cut the
payments without jeopardizing future access to markets. One
African Finance Minister, who asked not to be named because
of the sensitivity of negotiations, said creditors may victim-
ize his country if he is too vocal about a waiver in public.”

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