New debt relief from African Development Bank

The African Development Bank (ADB) Group said on Monday Burundi had met the conditions needed to qualify for US $226.01 million ($149.35 million in Net Present Value terms) in debt relief. "This amount will save up to 90 percent of Burundi’s debt service obligations annually until February 2043," the bank said in a statement following a decision by its board of directors and those of the African Development Fund, one of the bank's entities. The ADB share of debt relief is equivalent to 18 percent of the relief being offered by all of Burundi's creditors. The ADB said: "Burundi qualified for [the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries] HIPC debt relief after having demonstrated good progress in stabilising its economy and continuously implementing sound policies for macroeconomic and financial stability, growth and poverty reduction." The ADB and ADF boards said although Burundi still faced a fragile political and socioeconomic situation, the country had made significant progress in stabilising the economy, implementing financial and structural reforms and initiating the restoration of social services. In August Burundi became the 28th country to qualify for the World Bank and International Monetary Fund's enhanced HIPC initiative. The World Bank's International Development Association (IDA) is the country's largest creditor. The IDA describes itself as being "the part of the World Bank that helps the earth’s poorest countries reduce poverty by providing interest-free loans and some grants for programmes aimed at boosting economic growth and improving living conditions."