Somalia’s Finance minister holds talks with Russian officials over debt relief

[Deeq A.]

Somali minister for Finance has held talks with Russian officials over Somalia’s bid to secure debt relief.

In a video conference, Abdirahman Duale Beileh, Finance minister held discussions with Timur Maksimov Russian deputy minister over the process of the debt relief.

The officials also talked about means the Russian government could carry out remission.

According to Beileh, Somalia is owed the second-largest sum of money to the Russian government after the US government.

The discussion comes barely two weeks after Somalia cleared debt owed to the global lender thanks to a $366 million bridging loan from Norway, the global lender has announced marking a turn-around for Somalia as it re-establishes its relations with the bank.

The clearance of the arrears not only enables Somalia to access low-cost loans from the World

Bank’s International Development Association but also inch closer to debt relief.

The payment of these arrears was made possible through a $365.9 million bridge loan from the Norwegian government.

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