Daily Times

Pakistan has signed two ‘Debt Service Suspension Agreements’ on Wednesday amounting to suspension of loans worth USD 197.49m, under the G-20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) frameworks.

According to the press release, the government of Pakistan has signed agreements with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the government of the Swiss Confederation under the G-20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative.

Of this total amount, USD 191.60m were owed to JICA during the period from January to June 2021 and USD 5.89m were owed to the Government of the Swiss Confederation during the period from July to December 2021. These amounts will now be repaid over a period of six years (including one-year grace period) in semi-annual instalments.

Due to the support extended by the development partners of Pakistan, including JICA and Government of the Swiss Confederation, the G-20 DSSI has provided the fiscal space which was necessary to deal with the urgent health and economic needs of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

The total amount of debt that has been suspended and rescheduled under the DSSI framework, covering the period from May 2020 to December 2021, stands at USD 3,688m.

Pakistan has already concluded and signed 91 agreements with 21 bilateral creditors for the rescheduling of its debts under the G-20 DSSI framework, amounting to rescheduling of almost USD 2,953m.

The signing of above-mentioned agreements brings this total to USD 3,150m. Negotiations for remaining agreements to be signed under the G-20 DSSI are on-going.