The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has proposed the cancellation of about N1 trillion debt owed by developing countries under a global deall.
It said the relief would help the countries cover the financing gap resulting from the Coronavirus pandemic.
The Director of UNCTAD Division on Globalisation and Development Strategies, Richard Kozul-Wright, said, “This is a world where defaults by developing nations on their debt is inevitable.”
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Recall that the agency had made similar calls for global debt service relief for the 64 poor countries, so that they could boost their healthcare system as well focus on economic stimulus for citizens and businesses.
Meanwhile, the debt service obligations of high-income developing countries are between $2 to $2.3 trillion in 2020 and 2021, while middle and low-income countries debt service is between $700 billion to $1.1 trillion.
However, The World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday announced the suspension of debt repayments by Nigeria and other countries indebted to the International Development Association, known as IDA countries, to cushion the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on them.
The IDA, a member of the World Bank Group, is an international financial institution which offers concessional loans and grants to the world’s poorest developing countries.
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According to the two Brent Wood institutions, “The coronavirus outbreak is likely to have severe economic and social consequences for IDA countries, home to a quarter of the world’s population and two-thirds of the world’s population living in extreme poverty.
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