G7 to press China on debt relief for coronavirus-hit poor nations

The Group of Seven (G7) wealthy nations plans to use next month’s meeting of G20 finance ministers to pressure China to fully implement a debt relief programme for poor nations.

The G7 ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States want to push for reforms in the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI), saying the implementation of the debt deal has faced challenges.

At a meeting on Friday hosted by the US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin, which was also attended by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the ministers backed extending the debt relief initiative for the world’s poorest countries beyond 2020 and supporting a process for debt cancellation. However, they were disappointed at the response from other G20 members.

The statement said that so far the DSSI had supported 43 countries asking for benefits of the initiative by freeing up US$5 billion to fund social, health and economic measures to respond to the pandemic.