PARIS (Reuters) – G20 countries and Paris Club creditor nations need to start thinking about debt relief for the poorest countries beyond a debt payment suspension deal this year, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Wednesday.
The Group of 20 leading economies and the Paris Club, an informal group of state creditors coordinated by the French finance ministry, agreed in April to freeze debt payments from the 73 poorest countries for the rest of 2020.
“We need to start thinking about what comes next, we will have to take decisions at the end of 2020,” Le Maire told an online conference about debt in emerging markets and developing economies.
“We could decide to extend the initiative by a few months or we could decide to already start a new phase that could involve deeper debt restructuring for some countries on a case by case basis and in a multilateral framework.”
(Reporting by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
