Japan agreed on debt deferral amounting to approximately $160 million to Pakistan, as the last phase of “the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI)”.
According to an official statement, prior to this, both the governments agreed on the first debt deferral amounting to nearly $370 million on April 27, 2021 and the second debt deferral amounting to $200 million on October 22, 2021, under the same initiative.
The total amount of deferred debt has reached $730 million, which will widen the fiscal space for Pakistan to restore its economy affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and the flood disaster.
The concessional loans, subject to debt deferral, have been utilised for infrastructure development such as roads, tunnels, power plants and grids, irrigation, water supply, and drainage facilities in Pakistan from the early 1990s to the mid-2010s.
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These concessional loans, the statement further said, have favourable conditions for Pakistan in terms of low interest rate, as well as long grace and repayment period.
Under the last agreement, repayments for the debt and interest due between July 1 and December 31, 2021 will be rescheduled after June 15, 2023.
In addition to the debt deferral, the government of Japan decided to extend Emergency Grant Aid of $7 million to Pakistan in response to the damages caused by the flood disaster that have occurred in Pakistan since mid-June.
