President Adama Barrow has expressed concern about The Gambia’s growing debt which he described as unsustainable.

The president made this statement last week while having a closed door meeting with the visiting Indian President, Ram Nath Kovind, according to a State House press release.

“The two leaders discussed a wide range of issues; among them was The Gambia’s unsustainable debt of 120 percent to its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) inherited from the former regime. The Gambia currently pays 60 percent of tax to debt servicing. Last month alone, it paid over D600 million, according to the president.

“President Barrow added: the debt is a big burden and we appealed to India for debt relief. India has given us a debt relief for five years. This will assist The Gambia to implement some of our projects’’.

The release stated that the debt burden is a difficult situation for a government that has limited time to implement sweeping reforms, fix a broken economy, and stimulate the confidence of development partners.

In the meantime according to Gambia government officials, India has agreed to reallocate $92 Million credit to The Gambia for the construction of roads and other infrastructural development projects following high-level talks between President Adama Barrow and his Indian counterpart, President Shri R.N. Kovind, and their technical teams.

An MOU traditional medicine, and homeopathy, among others was signed between the two countries.

The two leaders agreed that they should expand their partnership in the spirit of South-South cooperation for the progress, prosperity, and development of their peoples.