IMF cuts borrowing costs by 36%, eases burden on debtor nations

Oct. 12, 2024 - Punch Newspapers

The IMF approved reforms on Friday that will lower members’ borrowing costs by 36 per cent and lift eight indebted countries out of the requirement to pay more to borrow money. The reforms, which come into effect on November 1, will raise the threshold of debt at which IMF member countries start paying the surcharges, lifting eight of the countries out of the requirement to pay the additional borrowing costs, it added.

They are Benin, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Georgia, Moldova, Senegal, Sri Lanka, and Suriname. The IMF estimates that only 11 countries will meet the requirement to pay the surcharge once the new policy begins.

Combined, the measures approved on Friday “will lower IMF borrowing costs for members by 36 per cent, or about US$1.2 billion annually,” the Fund’s managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, said in a statement.

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