UK to extend £330 million bridge loan to clear Sudan's debt to ADB

Britain will provide a £330 million bridge loan to help Sudan clear its more than $400 million in arrears to the African Development Bank, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on Thursday. Britain would provide £125 million in aid to Sudan during the current financial year, Raab said, including support for the creation of a transitional parliament. "We are committed absolutely...

Britain will provide a £330 million bridge loan to help Sudan clear its more than $400 million in arrears to the African Development Bank, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on Thursday. Sudan's removal from a U.S. list of state sponsors of terror late last year has paved the way for Sudan to start the process of clearing its approximately $60 billion in foreign debt, a necessary step toward seeking further financing.

Raab said Britain was supportive of that effort and said he had signed a memorandum of understanding to disburse £40 million to Sudan's family support cash transfer program, part of a pledge made at a donor conference last year. Britain would provide £125 million in aid to Sudan during the current financial year, Raab said, including support for the creation of a transitional parliament.

"We are committed absolutely... to this country's transition forward and I look forward to working with the civilian government to take it to the next stage," Raab said at a press conference in Khartoum.

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