The Federal Government of Somalia has cleared its arrears to the International Development Association (IDA), completing the process of normalizing its financial relationship with the World Bank Group.
With this clearance, Somalia has fully re-established its access to new resources from IDA and paved the way to receive debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) and Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) to promote growth and recovery over the coming years.
The payment of these arrears was made possible through a $365.9 million bridge loan from the Norwegian government. This effort is part of a comprehensive plan for arrears clearance that also includes the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the African Development Bank
In a meeting of the Bank’s Board last week, Executive Directors expressed support for the government’s strong record of fiscal, political, social and economic reforms in recent years which enabled Somalia to reach this major milestone.
They noted their expectation that in addition to accessing new IDA resources, Somalia would also work with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) to support the development of its private sector.
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