The Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) announced yesterday an initiative whereby debt repayments due to developing countries and companies benefiting from the Fund's loans are postponed during the current year, to help them overcome the economic repercussions of the Covid-19 epidemic.
The fund said in a statement that the initiative that will benefit the borrowing countries and companies will be implemented in accordance with the internal laws and procedures adopted by the fund, as the period for suspending all benefits extends from January 1 to December 31, 2020.
The Fund indicated that this new initiative is in line with the position of the UAE government in support of the Group of 20 decision within the initiative launched by the World Bank, aimed at suspending debt payments due to developing countries, to help them meet their development needs, reduce their debt burdens and enable them to address the effects of 19 »Without financial pressure.
“This initiative comes out of our commitment to achieving our vision and goals aimed at achieving sustainable economic development and helping countries to overcome the economic impacts of the (Covid-19) crisis in various sectors, most notably health, food security,” said Mohammed Saif Al Suwaidi, Director General of the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development. And education, which requires us to support the affected countries from the repercussions of this epidemic and stand by them to overcome the crisis, especially the low-income countries ».
He added, "The new initiative will contribute to ensuring the financial stability of these countries, which will reflect positively on the path of sustainable economic development."
Al-Suwaidi stressed that the fund is keen to alleviate financial pressures on developing economies and the national private sector, which pushes it to adopt necessary measures and decisive decisions in the current period to contribute to the speedy recovery of borrowing countries and national companies and provide them with the necessary support to overcome this global ordeal.
He pointed out that the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development works to drive sustainable economic growth, whether locally or in developing countries, by supporting key sectors such as education, health, energy, transportation, housing, agriculture, industry and other sectors that support the process of sustainable growth, as the fund provides soft loans to developing country governments. It invests in different companies in it, to help it implement its development plans by financing strategic projects and investments that have positive implications for economic development.
The new initiative is a continuation of a number of initiatives launched by the Fund recently, in the context of its efforts to reduce the economic impact of the "Covid 19" epidemic.
The suspension period for all benefits is from January 1st to December 31st 2020.