The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has excluded Nigeria from the list of 28 countries granted debt pardons.

The Board has approved the third tranche of grants for debt service relief for 28 member countries under the Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT).

It was learned that the approval followed two prior tranches approved on April 13, 2020 and October 2, 2020, respectively.

In a report released yesterday, the Fund said the approval will enable the disbursement of grants from the CCRT for payment of all eligible debt service falling due to the IMF from its poorest and most vulnerable members from April 14, 2021 to October 15, 2021, estimated at SDR 168 ($238) million.

The beneficiaries of the previous CCRT tranche are Afghanistan, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, and The Gambia.

Others are Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Tajikistan, Togo, and Yemen.

This tranche of grants for debt service relief will continue to help free up scarce financial resources for vital emergency health, social, and economic support to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Subject to the availability of sufficient resources in the CCRT, debt service relief could be provided for the remaining period from October 16, 2021 to April 13, 2022 amounting to a total of about SDR 680 ($964) million.