World Bank says no 'free ride' for commercial creditors on debt relief

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 told the Bank's Development Committee on Friday.

Malpass said the debt relief initiative agreed this week by the Group of 20 economies and the Paris Club was a "huge achievement" to help the poorest countries deal with the health and economic impact of the new coronavirus pandemic.

He said the Bank would look at ways of further extending support for the poorest countries, but cautioned that it was critical to protect the financial capacity, credit rating and low cost of funding offered by the Bank's lending arms.