The debt relief initiative adopted by the G20 group of nations in response to the coronavirus pandemic fails to adequately address the impact of the crisis on the world's poorest countries, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th September, 2020) The debt relief initiative adopted by the G20 group of nations in response to the coronavirus pandemic fails to adequately address the impact of the crisis on the world's poorest countries, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday.
"I welcome the G20's Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI), which has created fiscal space in the world's poorest countries, but this response does not address the magnitude of the crisis," Guterres said in a speech at the UN High-level meeting on financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the era of COVID-19 and beyond.
G20 leaders in April agreed to suspend debt payments due by the world's poorest developing economies from May 1 to December 31, 2020 in order to mitigate the effects of the pandemic.
The UN chief called on international community to take urgent matters to prevent further economic and other losses. "Unless we take action now, we face a global recession that could wipe out decades of development and put the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development completely out of reach," he said.
On Friday, the G20 International Financial Architecture Working Group (IFA WG) had the last of its September meetings, where it discussed a range of financial issue, including updates on the implementation the DSSI. Until now, 46 countries have applied for DSSI.
