World Bank unveils debt payment pause, IMF touts $100 bn for poorest

The World Bank will ease financing for countries hit by natural disasters, it said on Thursday, as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced it had hit its target of making $100 billion in special drawing rights available for vulnerable nations.
 

The two announcements were made at a gathering in Paris of some 40 leaders, including about a dozen from Africa, China’s prime minister and Brazil’s president, that aims give impetus to a new global finance agenda.
 

In remarks to a panel on Thursday, new World Bank president Ajay Banga outlined a “toolkit”, including offering a pause in debt repayments, giving countries flexibility to redirect funds for emergency response, providing new types of insurance to help development projects and helping governments build advance-emergency systems.
 

The gathering aims to boost crisis financing for low-income states and ease their debt burdens, reform post-war financial systems and free up funds to tackle climate change by getting top-level consensus on how to promote a number of initiatives struggling in bodies like the G20, COP, IMF-World Bank and United Nations.
 

An announcement about Zambia’s debt was also expected later on Thursday after its creditors indicated this week a restructuring proposal was nearly ready after more than two years of negotiations.
 

“It is clear that the international financial architecture has failed in its mission to provide a global safety net for developing countries,” United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said.