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G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors agreed to extend Debt Service Suspension by 6 months

Updated: Oct 15, 2020 07:04:25am
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G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors agreed to extend Debt Service Suspension by 6 months

New Delhi, Oct 15 (KNN) Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs participated in the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting under the Saudi Arabian Presidency here today through video conferencing.

Ministers and Governors of G20 countries discussed the current global economic outlook and G20’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, along with other G20 Finance Track priorities for the year 2020.

In the first session, the Finance Minister spoke on updates to the G20 Action Plan in response to COVID-19 which was endorsed by the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors on April 15th 2020.  The union minister emphasised that the updated commitments in the G20 Action Plan have to be kept relevant in the current policy context for the action points to remain effective as a policy response to COVID-19.

While explaining the core guiding principles for the updation of the G20 Action Plan commitments, the Finance Minister highlighted the need to balance the health and economic objectives in the recovery plans. The need to consider the heterogeneity of policy responses among member countries, international spillovers from domestic policy actions and reforms required in the global regulatory regimes particularly with respect to the procyclicality of credit rating downgrades.

The Finance Minister said Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) has been one of the key outcomes of the G20 Action Plan which provides time-bound suspension of debt service payments for the low-income debtor countries that request forbearance. The initiative was initially in force till end of 2020.

In light of the continued liquidity pressures, the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors agreed to extend the DSSI by 6 months, and to examine by the time of the 2021 IMF/WBG Spring Meetings if the economic and financial situation requires a further extension of the DSSI, she added.

Talking about addressing the debt vulnerabilities of low-income countries, Sitharaman observed that in a longer-term, a more structural treatment of debt is required. She emphasised that this process should primarily be guided by the objective of helping such countries overcome the fiscal stress caused by pandemic.

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