Somalia's finance minister said the country is winning in its effort to get the trust of international financial institutions and could receive debt relief as early as next year.
Abdirahman Duale Beileh, who participated in the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank last week in Washington, said Somalia has “passed [the] trust” factor with international creditors following roundtable meetings.
“They [IMF] have submitted their assessment, and they said Somalia has passed,” he said. “Somalia can be trusted. Somalia is back. And Somalia has to be supported to move with the clearance of arrears sometime next year.”
Somalia owes an estimated $5.5 billion to international creditors, the Paris club, the non-Paris club and other international financial institutions. Beileh said those groups are working to see Somalia cleared of its debts next year.
“They are all moving together in tandem, but they all agree that sometime next year, everything will be done,” he said during an interview in VOA studios in Washington. “Countries and organizations are also promising a pre-arrears clearance fund to be established for the assistance of Somalia.”
Somalia and the IMF signed staff-level agreements aimed at monitoring Somalia fiscal reforms and increased revenue. Beileh said the government has successfully completed two IMF staff-monitored programs.
UAE dispute
Meanwhile, Beileh has opened the possibility that Somalia could return nearly $10 million seized from a United Arab Emirates plane at the Mogadishu airport on April 8 but said talks were ongoing.
He said Somalia is open for business and investment but that countries need to respect its sovereignty.
“Somalia is a sovereign nation. We are determined that we bring back our dignity and our sovereignty,” he said. “Everybody is welcome to come, but I can tell you generally that Somalia is not a monopoly for anybody.”
Beileh said UAE was a “very friendly country” that should “go through proper channels” of communication with Somalia's government.
“The money is a lot of money, and I don’t know what will happen if you just bring $10 million to U.S. ports without anybody knowing,” he said. “We have to know what this money is for. We have to know before the money shows up in the airport in a big plane. So, all these things create [an] unnecessary suspicious environment, which has to be dealt with,” he said.
Source: https://www.voanews.com/a/somalia-imf-w ... um=twitter
