WASHINGTON — The Institute for International Finance on Friday released a legal tool aimed at helping some of the world's poorest countries take advantage of a suspension of debt payments offered by the Group of 20 major economies. The IIF, which groups more than 450 banks and other global financial institutions, said it developed the template waiver letter https://www.iif.com/Publications/ID/3993/G20-DSSI-Template-Waiver-Letter-Agreement at the request of U.N. officials and others who are worried the pandemic could spark a major debt crisis. The G20 countries and the Paris Club of official creditors in April agreed to freeze debt payments from the 73 poorest countries for the rest of 2020 to free up funds to contain the pandemic and mitigate its economic fallout. Forty-one countries have expressed interest in the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI), but the Paris Club has signed agreements with just under half of them so far, including Ivory Coast, Ethiopia and Pakistan.

Source: International New York Times July 10, 2020 22:52 UTC