PM discusses debt relief for developing countries with German Chancellor

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan in a telephonic conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday that the developing countries would be hit badly by the ongoing Covid-19 crisis due to lack of a debt breather.

During the call, he pointed out that the ability of developing countries to overcome the coronavirus challenge hinges on an urgent debt relief at their request and without tough conditions.

The prime minister said the Covid-19 has triggered an unprecedented global health and economic crisis with developing countries hit harder due to lack of fiscal space and debt servicing. People in the developing world face a starker choice of either dying of the deadly contagion or hunger.

He expressed the hope that countries like Germany along with the UN would provide leadership to the issue, in the forthcoming G-20 Finance Ministers Meeting as well as Spring Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank.

His telephone call came on the heels of a video message to the UN, leaders of rich countries and heads of financial institutions calling for ‘Global Initiative on Debt Relief’ for developing countries amid the coronavirus crisis.