Coronavirus: IMF, World Bank suspend debt payments from IDA nations

As economies are struggling due to the coronavirus pandemic, The World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have called for bilateral creditors to suspend debt payments from the world’s poorest nations.

This is aimed to help IDA countries which hold “two thirds of the worlds population living in extreme poverty” to fight this coronavirus outbreak.

A joint statement issued by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) states:

With immediate effect—and consistent with national laws of the creditor countries—the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund call on all official bilateral creditors to suspend debt payments from IDA countries that request forbearance.

Further adding that:

The World Bank Group and the IMF believe it is imperative at this moment to provide a global sense of relief for developing countries as well as a strong signal to financial markets.

Coronavirus Brief Global Update:

The COVID-19 cases globally have reached more than 446,500 and this number will cross the 500,000 mark in a few hours with number of deaths now reaching 20,000 too.

Although China where the pandemic began has been able to curb the spread of the virus, Europe has become the new epicenter with thousands of new cases and hundreds of deaths being reported from countries in the region.

United States is well on its way to becoming the next epicenter where the number of cases has surged to 60,000 with the addition of over 25,000 in the last two to three days alone.

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