World Bank warns no ‘free ride’ for commercial creditors on debt relief

World Bank warns no ‘free ride’ for commercial creditors on debt relief

WASHINGTON: Commercial creditors need to support debt relief for the poorest countries and cannot just "free ride" on a suspension in debt payments by official bilateral creditors, World Bank President David Malpass said on Friday.. More than 2.14 million people in more than 210 countries and territories have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 143,744 have died, according to a Reuters tally.. Malpass said that the World Bank was financing and implementing pandemic response programs in 64 developing countries, with the number to grow to 100 by the end of April.. Iraq's Kurdistan region to defer oil payments, says Genel /node/1660736/business-economy. The price of crude has collapsed this year amid the coronavirus outbreak, with Brent benchmark down by about 60 percent year-to-date to around $28 per barrel on Friday. OSLO: Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region will postpone payments for oil sales made between November 2019 and February 2020 while committing to paying regularly for the following months, London-based Genel Energy said on Friday.. "Payment of invoices relating to oil sales from November 2019 to February 2020 will be deferred, interest free, for at least nine months," Genel said in a statement, citing a message