Somalia’s Minister of Planning, Investment, and Economic Development held a meeting with Kristina Svensson, World Bank country manager, on Monday.
Mohamud Beenebeene and Kristina Svensson engaged in discussions on critical items, the top on the agenda being the debt relief initiative and bolstering collaboration between the Somalia Federal Government and the World Bank in the planning and implementation of development projects in the country.
Beenebene expressed gratitude to Ms. Svensson for the continued support that the Somali government is receiving from the World Bank.
He underscored the importance of working together to realise collective responsibility and facilitate agendas pertinent to both entities.
On her part, Ms. Kristina applauded the Minister and the Federal Government for the commendable work they are doing in steering the country in the right direction, which has led to significant progress in the debt relief process.
She pledged the World Bank ‘s unwavering commitment to continue rendering support to the Somali government in different areas, including economic development and prosperity.
According to the World Bank, Somalia is continuing to register remarkable progress towards reaching the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative Completion Point.
The International Monetary Fund ( IMF) said in its latest report that Somalia has maintained strong implementation of wide-ranging reforms to help strengthen key economic and financial policy institutions, which is paving the way for Somalia to reach debt relief at the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Completion Point in December 2023.
Upon reaching the completion point of the HIPC initiative, the Horn of Africa Nation is slated to get debt relief from key institutions like the IMF , the World Bank, the African Development Bank, and other lenders.
The debt owed by Somalia to external creditors is projected to be more than $5 billion. Somalia owes $ I billion, the single biggest to the United States.
Somalia will pare its debt to around $550 million from $5.2 billion if it continues to make progress in different facets, including economic and political development, as per the IMF staff.
