The Diplomat
The Council of Ministers yesterday approved the cancellation of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau’s debt with Spain in the amount of 12,026,061.66 US dollars and its conversion into projects aimed at combating food insecurity.
The agreement was signed on 25 May by the State Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Latin America and the Caribbean, Cristina Gallach, during her visit to Guinea-Bissau. The Guinean authorities undertake to allocate 6.6 million of the amount remitted to the World Food Programme (WFP), which will use it to finance school canteens in Guinea-Bissau.
In signing the agreement, the country’s foreign minister, Suzi Barbosa, said that the debt cancellation “will have a very big impact on our economy, considering the situation due to the pandemic”.
Barbosa also stressed the “social impact” of the fact that a large part of the money cancelled will be channelled through the WFP, mainly in the interior, “where many children go to school because they have access to school canteens”, she said.
