LONDON — Nearly 140 campaign groups and charities urged the IMF and World Bank, G20 governments and private creditors on Tuesday to help the world's poorest countries through the coronavirus crisis by cancelling debt payments. The call, spearheaded by the British-based Jubilee Debt Campaign, comes a day before a Group of 20 working group tasked with the coronavirus response for developing countries is due to meet. Separately, Ghana Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, who chairs the Development Committee advising the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), singled out China - Africa's largest bilateral creditor - to do more to relieve its debt burden. The Jubilee Debt campaign urges the immediate cancellation of 69 poor countries' debt payments for the rest of the year, including to private creditors, estimating that it would free up over $25 billion for the countries, or $50 billion if extended through 2021.

Source: International New York Times April 07, 2020 08:03 UTC