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IMF POLICY PAPER
CATASTROPHE CONTAINMENT AND RELIEF TRUST---SECOND TRANCHE OF DEBT SERVICE RELIEF IN THE CONTEXT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
October 5, 2020
IMF staff regularly produces papers proposing new IMF policies, exploring options for reform, or reviewing existing IMF policies and operations. The following documents have been released and are included in this package:
A Press Release summarizing the views of the Executive Board as expressed during its October 2, 2020 consideration of the staff report.
The Staff Report, prepared by IMF staff and completed on September 17, 2020 for the Executive Board’s consideration on October 2, 2020.
A Staff Supplement
The IMF’s transparency policy allows for the deletion of market-sensitive information and premature disclosure of the authorities’ policy intentions in published staff reports and other documents.
Electronic copies of IMF Policy Papers are available to the public from http://www.imf.org/external/pp/ppindex.aspx
International Monetary Fund
Washington, D.C.
© 2020 International Monetary Fund
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CATASTROPHE CONTAINMENT AND RELIEF TRUST— SECOND TRANCHE OF DEBT SERVICE RELIEF IN THE CONTEXT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
September 17, 2020
Executive Summary
On March 26, 2020, the Executive Board approved changes to the Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT) to enable the Fund to provide debt relief for its poorest and most vulnerable members to assist them in their efforts to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic repercussions. Support for all 29 CCRT-eligible member countries with eligible debt service has been approved, with 28 countries benefitting from the first tranche of debt relief, covering all debt service to the Fund falling due during the ensuing six months. 1
This paper proposes that the Executive Board approve the disbursement of a second 6-month tranche of CCRT debt service relief to 28 of the 29 members, covering the period October 14, 2020 through April 13, 2021, given staff’s assessment that sufficient financial resources are available. 2 In this context, the paper also provides brief updates for each beneficiary country on its policy responses to the pandemic and staff’s assessment of these policies and the use of resources freed up by debt service relief. It also provides an update on the finances of the CCRT and the fundraising efforts to secure adequate resources for grant assistance in the future. Based on grant pledges to date, resources are not sufficient to extend CCRT relief beyond the proposed second sixth-month period.
Approved By
Andrew Tweedie, Rhoda Weeks-Brown, Ceyla Pazarbasioglu
Prepared by the Finance Department, the Legal Department, and the Strategy, Policy, and Review Department
Contents
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS: COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND CCRT DEBT SERVICE RELIEF
CCRT-ELIGIBLE COUNTRIES: POLICY RESPONSE AND STAFF ASSESSMENT
FUNDING STATUS OF THE CCRT AND PROPOSAL FOR SECOND TRANCHE OF DEBT RELIEF
FIGURE
1. Human Toll of COVID-19 in CCRT Countries
TABLES
1. Eligible Countries and Eligible Debt Service Relief for the CCRT 2nd Tranche
2. New Contributions to the CCRT
ANNEXES
I. Islamic Republic of Afghanistan: Update for CCRT Debt
II. Benin: Update for CCRT Debt Relief
III. Burkina Faso: Update for CCRT Debt Relief
IV. Burundi: Update for CCRT Debt Relief
V. Central African Republic: Update for CCRT Debt Relief
VI. Chad— Update for CCRT Debt Relief
VII. Union of the Comoros: Update for CCRT Debt Relief
VIII. Democratic Republic of the Congo: Update for CCRT Debt
IX. Djibouti: Update for CCRT Debt Relief
X. The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia: Update for CCRT Debt Relief
XI. The Gambia: Update for CCRT Debt Relief
XII. Guinea: Update for CCRT Debt Relief
XIII. Guinea-Bissau: Update for CCRT Debt Relief
XIV. Haiti: Update for CCRT Debt Relief
XV. Liberia: Update for CCRT Debt Relief
XVI. Republic of Madagascar: Update for CCRT Debt Relief
XVII. Malawi: Update for CCRT Debt Relief
XVIII. Republic of Mozambique: Update for CCRT Debt Relief
XIX. Nepal: Update for CCRT Debt Relief
XX. Niger: Update for CCRT Debt Relief
XXI. Rwanda: Update for CCRT Debt Relief
XXII. Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Principe: Update for CCRT Debt Relief
XXIII. Sierra Leone: Update for CCRT Debt Relief
XXIV. Solomon Islands: Update for CCRT Debt Relief
XXV. Republic of Tajikistan: Update for CCRT Debt Relief
XXVI. United Republic of Tanzania: Update for CCRT Debt Relief
XXVII. Togo: Update for CCRT Debt Relief
XXVIII. Republic of Yemen: Update for CCRT Debt Relief
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CATASTROPHE CONTAINMENT AND RELIEF TRUST—SECOND TRANCHE OF DEBT SERVICE RELIEF IN THE CONTEXT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC—SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
September 30, 2020
Executive Summary
This paper provides additional information as background to the Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust—Second Tranche of Debt Service Relief in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Approved By
Christian Mumssen, Bernhard Steinki, Sean Nolan
Prepared by the Finance Department, the Legal Department, and the Strategy, Policy, and Review Department
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