WASHINGTON: The coronavirus pandemic has worsened crippling debt problems already facing 72 low- and middle-income countries, putting at risk some $598 billion in debt service payments from 2021 to 2025, including $87 billion this year alone, the United Nations Development Program reported Thursday.

Of those, only 49 countries are eligible for debt relief measures adopted by the Group of 20 major economies, UNDP Administrator Achim Stein told reporters, calling on G20 members to quickly expand a moratorium on debt service payments and a common framework for debt treatments beyond the poorest nations.

He also called for a mechanism that would allow rich countries to share their part of a potential $650 billion expansion of the International Monetary Fund's emergency reserves with middle income countries.