World Bank Chief Says G-20 Likely to Extend Debt-Suspension Plan

(Bloomberg) -- The Group of 20 gathering of finance ministers from the world’s largest economies this week is likely to extend debt-service suspension initiative for poorer nations until the end of the year, World Bank President David Malpass said.

The extension of the reprieve in debt-service payments by many of the world’s poorer nations will probably be the final, Malpass told reporters on a call Monday.

The G-20’s Debt Service Suspension Initiative, which took effect last May, delivered $5 billion in relief for more than 40 countries in 2020, according to the World Bank. The G-20 last October extended the program, originally set to expire in December 2020, through June, and agreed to consider a further six-month extension later.

The World Bank has made good progress in helping countries through the pandemic, but much work remains to be done to achieve sustainable and broad-based economic growth without harming the environment or leaving hundreds of millions of families in poverty, he said.

“I expect resources will be a challenge,” Malpass said. “I think there will be years of greater need for deeply concessional resources.”

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