The Debt Service Suspension Initiative (ISSD) helps countries focus their resources on fighting the pandemic and protecting the lives and livelihoods of millions of vulnerable people. In this context, 7 WAEMU countries will benefit from a deferral of debt repayment of 51.1 million dollars, or 28.13 billion FCFA in 2021.

As part of the debt service suspension initiative (ISSD), the Paris Club indicates in a report that WAEMU countries will benefit from debt deferral this year. Burkina, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo are the countries in the zone to benefit from this facility, to which all the countries in the zone are nevertheless eligible. Dakar will thus obtain the postponement of 30 million dollars of debt maturing this year, against 7 million dollars for Burkina, 6 million dollars for Mali and 4 million dollars for Niger. More generally, 33 countries in the world will benefit from the ISSD over the period, including 25 from the African continent for a total amount of 1.023 billion dollars.

The ISSD, launched in April 2020 at the initiative of the Bretton Woods institutions and the G20 countries, aims to help the poorest countries to have access to additional financial resources in the context of the fight against Covid-19. An agreement to which the developed countries gathered within the Paris Club have committed. Since its entry into force on May 1, 2020, it has provided debt relief for more than 40 countries, for a total amount of approximately $5 billion. Seventy-three countries are eligible for a temporary suspension of debt service payments contracted with their official bilateral creditors. The G20 also called on private creditors to participate in this process on a comparable basis.