Poor countries that were allowed to suspend debt payments during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic have to be transparent with how they are using the relief as they are being monitored, World Bank President David Malpass said on Friday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th April, 2020) Poor countries that were allowed to suspend debt payments during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic have to be transparent with how they are using the relief as they are being monitored, World Bank President David Malpass said on Friday.
"One of the things going on with this new debt moratorium is there will be monitoring of how the governments are using the fiscal space that is created by the debt relief," Malpass told a news conference via video link. "So if a government saves money by not paying creditors, there's an expectation that they use it for health, education, economic rebuilding of jobs ... in concrete ways to help the people of their country."
Malpass said it made sense for debt recipients to be transparent as they would eventually benefit by attracting real investors.
"What I want to emphasize for us today is the value that this brings to developing countries. If they're transparent, they're much more attractive to profitable investment coming in from around the world and from private sectors around the world," he added.
On Thursday, Malpass welcomed the suspension by the G20 of the scheduled May 31 repayment of bilateral credit by nations under the International Development Association (IDA), as part of relief under the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis.
Malpass also said the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund will be coming up with parallel programs as further relief to IDA nations.
