The G20 Finance and Paris Club agreed to extend the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) for the poorest countries by 6 months to 30 June 2021 to help them cope with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The news was announced on the evening of Wednesday 14 October by the G20 Finance Ministers, following a videoconference chaired by the Saudi Presidency and by the Paris Club (see EUROPE 12581/20).
The G20 Finance and the Paris Club also agreed “to consider, by the 2021 Spring Meetings of the IMF/World Bank, whether the economic and financial situation requires a further 6-month extension of the DSSI”, said the Paris Club in a communiqué.
The European Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen, welcomed the decision, “it is important that we work to prolong this debt service suspension initiative but it is not enough. Debt is a real challenge and we need greater debt relief efforts. We're preparing for that. IMF is preparing that”, she told EUROPE on Thursday 15 October.
The achievement of SDGs under threat. The Commissioner is concerned that the development financing gap is widening as donor countries are also grappling with the impact of Covid-19, threatening the achievement of sustainable development goals (SDGs).
“After COVID crisis and its very harsh economic and social consequences there is a back slash in many developing countries. 1.2 billion children are out of school. When you look at those numbers, there is a huge financial gap to achieve the sustainable development goals”, she pointed out.
“Is there still the very much needed commitment among the international community to really achieve the SDGs even though it means we need to increase the funding?” she wondered. She went on to warn that: “If we don't increase funding, those countries will never reach the SDGs by 2030”. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)