G-7 finance ministers open to suspending debt payments to needy countries

Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven (G-7), the world’s largest advanced economies, said Tuesday that they were prepared to suspend debt payments for emerging economies struggling with the coronavirus pandemic. 

“Ministers and Governors support multilateral efforts to assist these countries and stand ready to provide a time-bound suspension on debt service payments due on official bilateral claims for all countries eligible for World Bank concessional financing, if joined by all bilateral official creditors in the G20 [Group of 20] and as agreed with the Paris Club,” the group wrote in a statement following a virtual meeting.

The group called on private creditors to also work with poor countries to provide some level of debt relief on a voluntary basis.

“This initiative would provide liquidity support to help these countries deal with the health and economic impacts of the crisis,” the group said. 

International financial institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) have been working to reduce the burden of paying down debt during the crisis, which will require many countries to borrow in order to keep their economies afloat. 

On Monday, the IMF’s executive board approved debt relief for 25 countries, offering grants to cover six months of debt obligations. 

The latest initiative follows a new IMF global outlook that forecasts a global contraction of 3 percent, a significant drop from January’s forecast of a 3.3 percent expansion.

Outside of China and India, which are still on track for low positive growth, the IMF forecasts contractions of 5.2 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean, 5.2 percent in emerging and developing Europe, 2.8 percent in the Middle East and Central Asia, and 1.6 percent in sub-Saharan Africa.