Commerce reporter Dawn TV+Daily Dawn
Berlin: According to the German Ministry of Finance, since the beginning of this century, a total of 15.8 billion euros worth of debt owed by Germany to 52 countries has been written off.
According to the German Finance Ministry, the government has signed agreements with 52 countries to ensure debt relief. Iraq has the largest share of forgiven debts. Germany waived $4.7 billion worth of debt owed to Iraq.
Nigeria is second after Iraq, with $2.4 billion worth of debt forgiven, while $1.4 billion was forgiven to Cameroon.
The Finance Ministry said that by the end of last year, more than 70 countries had to repay loans worth $12.2 billion to Germany. At present, the highest debts are owed by Egypt ($1.5 billion), India ($1.1 billion) and Zimbabwe ($889 million).
According to the German authorities, debt relief is granted to achieve or maintain ‘macroeconomic stability’ and to restore debt sustainability for debtor countries. Also included are trade receivables from supply and credit agreements with German exporters and banks.
