G20 meets amid deep global recession fears

riyadh — Saudi Arabia hosted virtual talks between G20 finance ministers and central bankers Wednesday amid warnings of a deep coronavirus-triggered recession and growing calls for debt relief for poor countries including in Africa.

The meeting comes a day after the Group of Seven nations expressed support for a temporary halt to debt payments from the world’s poorest countries to help them weather the pandemic — if G20 governments agree.

Ministers and bankers from the

20 most advanced economies had pledged in their previous meeting last month to address the debt burden of low-income countries and deliver aid to emerging markets hit hard by the pandemic.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has announced that the G20 nations and the Paris Club of wealthy nation creditors have agreed to a one-year moratorium on debt payments for poor nations. He said G20 and Paris Club nations, which includes all G7 members, had agreed on the moratorium for 76 nations, including 40 in sub-Saharan Africa.

Le Maire said the agreement so far includes the postponement of $20 billion in payments to bilateral and private creditors.

76

Countries under 1-year debt moratorium

Saudi king approves more measures

Meanwhile, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia, has approved an additional package of measures to help the private sector deal with the economic impact of the coronavirus, state news agency SPA reported on Wednesday.

The package aims to provide liquidity to the private sector and will include exemptions, relief measures as well as accelerating payment of dues, it added without giving further details.

Also on Wednesday, Saudi Arabia started marketing a three-part dollar bond deal, a document showed, as the world’s biggest oil exporter seeks to replenish state coffers.

The kingdom, acting through the ministry of finance, is marketing five-and-a-half-year notes at around 315bps over US Treasuries, 10-and-a-halfyear bonds at around 325bps over, 40-year notes at around 5.15 per cent. —