Kebba AF Touray
President Adama Barrow said Gambia has engaged most of its external creditors for debt deferral for at least five years and most of them have granted the country principal repayment deferral, which is estimated to yield 4.8 Billion Dalasis from 2020 to 2024.
He made this statement at the National Assembly during the state of the nation address on Thursday.
He said: “The savings made will be invested in the economy to create growth.”
“The Government also engaged the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) and secured relief from ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development, Saudi Fund for Development, Kuwaiti Fund for Arab Economic Development, and the People’s Republic of China. The DSSI provided relief of 287.24 Million Dalasis in debt service payments for the 2020 fiscal year.”
He said despite the economic challenges, domestic resource mobilisation in 2020 amounted to an incredible performance of 13.4 Billion Dalasis.
He said: “Of this, 11.8 Billion Dalasis was tax revenue and D1.8 Billion Dalasis non-tax revenue.”
He noted that the pandemic has shown that the economy is vulnerable to shocks, but the Government remains committed to initiating sound economic policy management.
He said: “Along these lines, Cabinet approved the Medium Term Economic Fiscal Framework, 2021-2025 for fiscal policy interventions.”
