European Union finance ministers have backed the idea of boosting International Monetary Fund (IMF) funding and extending debt relief for the poorest countries to help the global fight against the COVID-19 crisis.
The idea of increasing the IMF's resources, called Special Drawing Rights, so that the lender of last resort can help more low-income countries emerged last year. Officials mention amounts ranging from US$500 billion to US$1 trillion.
Last year the G20 - the group of the world's 20 biggest economies, approved a Debt Service Suspension Initiative, offering 73 of the poorest countries a six-month suspension of government-to-government debt payments.
The initiative has already been extended once and will be discussed again at the next G20 meeting, in April.
All feeds
