United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Monday for greater debt relief and new creative financing to help poorer nations deal with the pandemic and prevent their economic recoveries from falling behind.
A “new debt mechanism” to provide more options – including debt swaps, buy-backs and cancellations – is needed, he said, as many nations have been reluctant to add debt during the global health crisis, fearing a hit to their credit ratings.
Guterres also called on G20 nations to extend the suspension of debtors’ loan payments into 2022, and expand the Common Framework for Debt Treatments to include middle-income countries that request it. The G20 agreed to suspend debt payments in April 2020, but that measure is set to expire at the end of June.
“We need to change the rules,” the UN chief told a high-level meeting with dozens of heads of state as well as the International Monetary Fund, World Bank Group and OECD bosses, saying old methods were no longer working.
Source: SCMP.COM
