The finance ministers of the world’s 20 major economies supported “a suspension of debt service payments for the poorest countries” affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in a communiqué adopted on Wednesday 15 April at the end of their meeting.
The suspension of debt service “takes effect immediately” and means that “poor countries need not worry about meeting their maturities over the next 12 months”, Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan said at a virtual press conference following the meeting.
The G20 Finance Ministers also support the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in setting up short-term credit lines to help countries facing liquidity difficulties. The international financial organisation has already doubled its annual macroeconomic aid capacity and decided to alleviate debt service for the most vulnerable countries (see EUROPE 12466/21).
The G20 Finance Ministers expressed their readiness to take all necessary measures in the fiscal, monetary and financial fields to overcome the pandemic. They also call on the Financial Stability Board to continue to monitor “vulnerabilities” in the financial system (see EUROPE 12465/23).
See the G20 Finance Ministers’ communiqué: https://bit.ly/3bcda6x (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)