ICC, ITUC and Global Citizen call for greater action by G20 Governments on sovereign debt relief

Building on an earlier intervention in April, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the institutional representative of over 45 million businesses, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the global voice of the world’s working people, and Global Citizen, a movement of engaged citizens who use their collective voice to end extreme poverty by 2030, have urged G20 Finance Ministers for an expansion of Debt Service Suspension Initiative eligibility to lower-middle and middle-income countries, and an extension of forbearance through to April 2022.

With the global economy facing an even deeper downturn than projected in April, the letter also makes a number of recommendations for measures the G20 can take to ensure the full participation of all bilateral and private creditors, to ensure that debt service does not prevent developing economy governments from protecting the lives and livelihoods of their citizens in the face of the pandemic.