PM phones Merkel, discusses debt relief initiative

Following up on his call for a 'Global Initiative on Debt Relief', Prime Minister Imran Khan, today, held a telephonic conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

During the call, the Prime Minister emphasized that Covid-19 has unfolded an unprecedented global health & economic crisis, where developing countries will be hit harder due to lack of fiscal space and debt servicing. People in the developing world face a starker choice: death by COVID-19 or by hunger.

The Prime Minister underscored that ability of the developing countries to cope with the COVID-19 challenge would depend on providing urgent debt relief, at their request, and without onerous conditions. The Prime Minister hoped that alongside the UN Secretary General, countries like Germany would provide leadership to this issue, in the forthcoming G-20 Finance Ministers Meeting as well as Spring Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank.-PR