UN chief calls for debt relief extension for middle-income countries

UN chief calls for debt relief extension for middle-income countries

NEW YORK “” Innovative measures to address debt are required to help the world's more than 100 middle-income countries expand their economies and exit the COVID-19 pandemic, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the General Assembly on Thursday. Addressing a high-level meeting on these nations, which account for more than half of the UN's 193 member states, he underlined the need for financing to help them recover in the wake of the global crisis. He said that middle-income countries should have their debts suspended into 2022 to cope with the social and economic impact of the virus. Leaving no nation behind Many were already dealing with mounting debt before the pandemic, which has only further aggravated the situation. "In small island states, for example, the collapse of tourism has greatly hindered their capacity to repay debts. And while the global response to the debt crisis is rightly attempting to support low-income countries, middle-income countries must not be left behind,“ he stated. Diversity defines the world's middle-income countries, which were already home to some 62 percent of the world's poor prior to the pandemic. The list includes India, which has a population of more than one billion, and Palau, an archipelago in