ISLAMABAD: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance Dr Abul Hafeez Shaikh said the debt relief is the quickest way to create fiscal space for helping the least-developed countries and developing countries, which were badly affected by unparallel crisis triggered by the Covid-19.

Hafeez Shaikh was speaking to the UN meeting of the Ministers of Finance on 'Sustainable Development in the Era of Covid-19 and beyond', and stated that Covid-19 triggered a crisis of the sort no one had seen since the great depression. He added that therefore, it was time for collective actions.

This discussion group convened under the initiative has identified extensive options and "We must prioritize action and focus on high impact activities that can be quickly implemented".

He said Pakistan attached special importance to ending illicit financing flows and looks forward to the report of the facts of the panel that must terminate tax evasion, money laundering and transfer by corrupt politicians etc, and return of the stolen assets of the developing countries.

He said the debt relief was the quickest way to create fiscal space and Prime Minister Imran khan called for debt relief initiative in April, and added that the UN group on debt vulnerabilities co-led by Pakistan has suggested immediate actions, which included; (i) extension of debt suspension initiative for another year; (ii) participation in the DSS should not affect country's credit rating; (iii) G-20 has asked the multilateral development banks to participate in the DSSI; (vi) and proposal from the least developing countries for cancellation of debt required serious consideration; (v) private credit must be part of the solution.

He said that modalities of voluntarily participation remain unclear at this moment.

Hafeez Shaikh further stated that a proposal worthy of consideration was liquidity and sustainability facility proposed by the Economic Commission of Africa.

He said that he would like to emphasize the importance in the role of governments of central bank of reserve currency issuing countries they mobilised massive stimulus were well placed to help generate $2.5 trillion that the IMF estimate developing countries would be needing.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020