President Mohamed Farmaajo has commended both the country’s achievement to reach interim debt relief.
In a statement, President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo said the decision by the World Bank and IMF was critical for reforms in Somalia.
“This debt relief decision by IMF, WB, IDA and the support from friends of Somalia, is a timely boost for our longstanding transformation and sectoral reforms in Somalia,” the statement read in part.
The president added his administration ‘will maintain our sustained efforts and institutional strengthening for the completion of this journey.’
Somalia is the 37th country to reach this milestone, known as the HIPC Decision Point.
In 1996, the World Bank and IMF launched the HIPC Initiative to create a framework in which all creditors, including multilateral creditors, can provide debt relief to the world’s poorest and most heavily indebted countries to ensure debt sustainability, and thereby reduce the constraints on economic growth and poverty reduction imposed by the unsustainable debt-service burdens in these countries.
To date, 37 HIPC countries, including Somalia, have reached their decision points, of which 36 have reached the completion point.