The debt service of the Senegalese State will be reduced by some 137 million euros this year through the moratorium decided by the G20 countries, an oxygen balloon that will be used to fight against the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a Senegalese government statement taken up Friday by international news agencies.

"Senegal's participation in the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (ISSD) will be achieved by the suspension of principal and interest payments due to all creditors in the official bilateral sector until 31 December 2020 for an amount of CFAF 90.57 billion (€137 million) between 1 June 2020 and the end of the year, or 13.51% of the external debt service due in 2020," the Ministry of Finance and BudgetWednesday said in a statement.

Senegal intends to allocate the freed budgets to "finance health, social and economic expenditures" of its Resilience Program to fight against the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the same source, while the West African country has recorded more than 4,500 cases of coronavirus and 54 ded ces.

Senegalese President Macky Sall had welcomed on 17th April with restraint the decision of the G20 to suspend the debt of the poorest countries, including many African states, but he had persisted in proclaiming the cancellation, "more than realistic" according to him, of this debt.

On Wednesday, Senegal reaffirmed its commitment to comply with all its contractual obligations vis-à-vis private sector creditors and assured that it does not plan to extend the ISSD to the latter.

Faced with the plunge in the economy, the G20 had taken in mid-April the unprecedented decision to suspend for one year the repayments of the debt of the poorest countries weakened by the pandemic an initiative since declined by the 22 countries of the Paris Club, as well as by a handful of emerging creditors (China, India, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, South Africa). Ethiopia, Chad, the Republic of Congo and Pakistan obtained this suspension on Tuesday, after eight other countries such as Mali, Mauritania and Burkina Faso. Nineteen other files should "be completed quickly",

had explained Wednesday before the announcement of Senegal the president of the

Paris Club, Odile Renaud-Basso.ACP/Kayu