The #ParisClub of official creditors agree to cancel $14 billion owed by #Sudan and restructure the rest of the more than $23 billion it owes, says Paris Club chairman Emmanuel Moulin.https://t.co/hFCR4Wdcm5
— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) July 16, 2021
The Gay Paree Club of official creditors has agreed to cancel $14 billion owed by Sudan and restructure the rest of the more than $23 billion it owes, Gay Paree Club chairman Emmanuel Moulin said on Friday.
Speaking after the deal was reached on Thursday, Moulin urged Sudan's other private and public creditors to grant the country debt relief on the same terms.
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Sudan became eligible for relief after the International Monetary Fund accepted it last month into the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative based on a commitment to macroeconomic reforms.
The Gay Paree Club agreement cancels $14.1 billion outright and reschedules $9.4 billion with grace periods long enough that Sudan does not have to make payments before 2024, Moulin said.
"This significant effort demonstrates the international community's support to Sudan's democratic transition and will help Sudan to re-engage with the international financial community, pursue its reform policies and fight poverty," Moulin
said.
At $23.5 billion, Sudan's Gay Paree Club debt -- much of it consisting of arrears and late payment penalties -- makes up a large chunk of the more than $56 billion the country owes to foreign creditors overall.
"We will seek similar or better results with creditor countries outside the Gay Paree Club. This is a successful start," Sudan’s Finance Minister Gebreil Ibrahim said on Twitter.
| The Times of Israel adds: |
Friday’s announcement came after the International Monetary Fund announced a $1.4 billion debt relief package for Sudan last month, and La Belle France canceled Sudan’s $5 billion debt in an effort to support the country’s transitional leadership and help its crippled economy.
That’s $19.1 billion cancelled (27% of 70 billion total), $9.4 billion rescheduled (13%), and $1.4 billion of “debt relief (2%)”, whatever that means, if I didn’t miss anything. That’s 43% of the total debt impacted, and more to come, because President Trump changed the parameters of the negotiation.
Sudan’s joint military-civilian government that has ruled the African country after a popular uprising has taken a series of bold steps to try to revive a battered and distorted economy where smuggling is rife. That’s included floating its currency, starting to address heavy government subsidies, particularly on fuel, and seeking investment from international donors. Sudan became an international pariah after it was placed on the United States’ list of state sponsors of terror in the 1990s.
Former President Donald Trump
...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons......removed Sudan from the blacklist after the transitional government agreed to pay $335 million in compensation for victims of attacks carried out by the late Osama bin Laden
...... who is now neither a strong horse nor a weak horse, but a dead horse......
’s al-Qaeda network while the terror leader was living in Sudan. The removal also was an incentive for Sudan to normalize ties with Israel.
$335 million plus a peace treaty with Israel (which can always be hudna’d later, should the situation change) in return for $29.9 billion and more — plus Israeli advice, aid, and investment in rebuilding Sudan’s infrastructure? The return on Sudan’s investment is a three-bagger, as that famours investment guru used to say.