UN supports PM Imran Khan’s call for global initiative on debt relief

• The Spokesman of the UN Secretary-General, Stephane Dujarric said PM Imran Khan’s initiative is in the same spirit as the Secretary-General’s own position.
• Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday appealed before the world leaders, leading financial heads and the United Nations Secretary-General for the launching of ‘Global initiative on debt relief'.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has supported Prime Minister Imran Khan's call for a ‘Global Initiative on debt relief’ to provide debt relief for the developing countries in wake of economic meltdown generated by the coronavirus pandemic. 

Addressing a regular virtual press briefing in New York, the Spokesman of the UN Secretary-General, Stephane Dujarric said PM Imran Khan’s initiative is in the same spirit as the Secretary-General’s own position.

He said the UN Chief believes that debt relief must be an important part of the COVID-19 response, including immediate waiver on interest payments for the current year. The spokesman added that it is important that the limited resources of the world’s poorest countries must be used to combat COVID-19 virus.

The spokesperson added that the UN Secretary-General has cleared his position privately and publicly, notably in the letter he sent to the G20.

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday appealed before the world leaders, leading financial heads and the United Nations Secretary-General for the launching of ‘Global initiative on debt relief'.

In a brief televised appeal to the international community, the prime minister juxtaposed the financial health of the developing countries especially Pakistan where the government had been striving simultaneously to avoid the spread of the deadly COVID-19 through clamping of lockdowns and saving the people from death due to hunger.

The prime minister cautioned that the pandemic's socio-economic impacts would be more consequential in the developing countries.

The proposed global initiative aimed to lay the ground for urgent debt relief to the developing countries, at their request, and without onerous conditionalities.

The initiative was built on the prime minister's belief that enhanced fiscal capacity was fundamental to recovery from the ongoing pandemic crises. Prime Minister Khan also urged world leaders to step up measures to help developing countries to overcome disastarous impacts of COVID-19.

He proposed that the developing countries should be provided with fiscal space and financial relief through enhanced debt relief and restructuring and other additional measures that could help them manage the unfolding crisis.