More than 40 countries have applied to suspend public debt servicing payments under the G20 proposal to support the world’s poorest countries amid the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the G20 Secretariat said in a press release following a meeting of the G20 working group on international financial architecture.
At the June 23-24 meeting, participants discussed the implementation of the G20 agreement reached on April 15 to suspend public debt service payments for the poorest countries to support their efforts to alleviate the economic and financial crises caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is the second month of the implementation of the historic initiative of the G20 countries to defer payments on public debt. To date, 41 applications have been received, 26 of which came from African countries. The initiative should benefit 73 countries that are eligible as least developed countries according to the UN classification. This initiative mobilizes critical resources to mitigate the consequences of the pandemic,” said Bandr al – Homali, President of the G20 working group from Saudi Arabia.
