The governments of Maldives and France signed an agreement on the G-20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) last Thursday, to temporarily suspend debt-service payments owed to bilateral creditors.
The Maldivian Ambassador to Sri Lanka Omar Abdul Razzak and the French Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives Eric Lavertu signed the agreement at a ceremony held in Sri Lanka.
The agreement is expected to directly contribute to Maldives’ ongoing economic recovery efforts, and improve debt transparency and debt management amidst the present economic challenges.
Under the World Bank's initiative, G-20 countries made commitments to the DSSI in April, pledging to suspend debt service for low-income countries on official bilateral credits.
In September this year, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the Treatment of Debt Services was signed by Minister of Finance Ibrahim Ameer, and the representatives of a number of other creditor countries, including France.
Till date, China, Japan and the United States have temporarily suspended debt-service payments to Maldives under the G-20 DSSI, in addition to France.
The Maldivian government has welcomed DSSI as a crucial relief from the country's rising foreign debt, in particular amid the heavy economic repercussions of COVID-19.