On October 30, 2020, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a second six-month tranche of debt service relief for Mali under the Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT) without a meeting; the relief on debt service will free up scarce financial resources to continue strengthening the country’s medical care capacity and addressing the social and economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

On October 30, 2020, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a second six-month tranche of debt service relief for Mali under the Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT) without a meeting. This approval follows the first six-month tranche (April 14 – October 13, 2020) approved on April 13, 2020 (see Press Release No. 20/151), and enables the disbursement of grants from the CCRT for payment of eligible debt service falling due to the IMF from October 14, 2020 to April 13, 2021, estimated at SDR 7.50 million (about US$10.59 million). The relief on debt service will free up scarce financial resources to continue strengthening the country’s medical care capacity and addressing the social and economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

This approval completes an earlier list of 28 low-income countries that benefited, on October 2, 2020, from the second six-month tranche of debt service relief under the CCRT (see Press Release No. 20/304). The approval for Mali was delayed because of the coup d’état on August 18, 2020 and the time needed to form the transition government.