• Pakistan signs debt suspension agreement with France
• The amount will now be paid over six years
• Pakistan has signed similar agreements with Japan, Switzerland

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and France signed an agreement for the suspension of repayment of loans amounting to $107 million under the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI).

In a statement, the Economic Affairs Division said the amount, initially repayable between July and December 2021, would now be repaid over a period of six years, including a one-year grace period, in semi-annual instalments.

The agreement was signed by Ministry of Economic Affairs Secretary Mian Asad Hayauddn and Ambassador of French Republic Nicolas Galey.

The government of Pakistan has already signed agreements with the French Republic for suspension of $261m.

The statement added that due to the support extended by the development partners of Pakistan, the G20 DSSI has provided the fiscal space which was necessary to deal with the urgent health and economic needs of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

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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 $3,688m.

“Pakistan has already concluded and signed 93 agreements with 21 bilateral creditors for the rescheduling of its debts under the G20 DSSI framework, amounting to rescheduling of almost $3,150m. The signing of [the] above-mentioned agreements brings this total to $3,257m,” the statement added.

It added that negotiations were ongoing for the remaining agreements to be signed under the DSSI framework.

Earlier this month, Pakistan signed two debt service suspension agreements with Japan and Switzerland for the suspension of $197.5 million in loans.

Pakistan owed $191.60 million to the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) during the period from January to June 2021 and $5.89m to the Swiss Government from July to December 2021.

In March, a similar agreement was signed with the Saudi Fund for Development for the suspension of debt servicing of $846m.

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