ISLAMABAD: The United States on Friday approved providing $132 million in US debt relief to Pakistan under G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI).

The US Ambassador to Pakistan, Donald Blome, signed the second US-Pakistan bilateral agreement on Friday in this regard.

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“Ambassador Blome today signed the second US-Pakistan bilateral agreement under the #G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative, providing $132 million in US debt relief to Pakistan. Our priority is to redirect critical resources in Pakistan,” the US Embassy here announced through a tweet. The rollover is related to the G20 and Paris Club agreement in April 2020 to support 73 lower-income countries during the Covid-19 pandemic, under which the US provided relief on $128 million in debt to Pakistan.

At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) urged the G20 to set up the DSSI. Established in May 2020, the DSSI helped countries concentrate their resources on fighting the pandemic and safeguarding the lives and livelihoods of millions of the most vulnerable people. The government of Pakistan, taking advantage of this initiative, entered into negotiations with 21 creditor countries for debt suspension amounting to $US1.7 billion, according to the information posted on the official website of the Economic Affairs Division, Government of Pakistan.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022