Pakistan signs debt suspension deal with France

By our correspondent

ISLAMABAD: The government on Monday signed a debt service suspension agreement with France amounting to suspension of loan worth $107 million, under the G-20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) framework.
The amount, initially repayable between July and December 2021, will now be repaid over a period of six years (including one-year grace period) in semi-annual instalments, a statement said.
The agreement was signed by Mian Asad Hayaud Din, federal secretary for Economic Affairs Division and Nicolas Galey, the ambassador of the French Republic to Pakistan in Islamabad.
The government has already signed agreements with French for suspension of $261 million.
“Due to the support extended by the development partners of Pakistan, 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 statement said.
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 $3.688 billion.
Pakistan has already concluded and signed 93 agreements with 21 bilateral creditors for the rescheduling of its debts under the G-20 DSSI framework, amounting to rescheduling of almost $3.150 billion.
The signing of an agreement with French government brings total to $3.257 billion. Negotiations for remaining agreements to be signed under the G-20 DSSI are on-going.