UNCTAD called for $1 trn developing world debt write-off

Around $1 trillion of debt owed by developing countries would be cancelled under a global deal proposed by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to help them overcome the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Daily Current Affairs Quiz 2020

Key-Points

UNCTAD report stated that over 64 low-income countries currently spend more on debt service than their health systems. For developing countries debt has become inevitable, especially due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

UNCTAD estimated financing and liquidity requirements due to the pandemic sums up to at least $2.5 trillion.

The high-income developing nations have debt service obligations of between $2 to $2.3 trillion in 2020 and 2021. Also, the UNCTAD stated that the middle and low-income countries have debt service obligations of $700 billion to $1.1 trillion.

Earlier, the G20 countries allocated $8 trillion into a stimulus for their own economies. The G20 nations agreed to suspend the bilateral debt service payments by the world’s poorest countries until the end of 2020.