⁍ The G20 group of rich nations and big emerging powers extended their Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI)
The six-month extension announced this week will see it run until at least June 30, 2021.

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⁍ The World Bank estimates that, to date, the 43 countries that have signed up for DSSI have deferred just over $5 billion of debt.

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– The G20 group of rich nations and big emerging powers extended their Debt Service Suspension Initiative this week to help the world’s poorest countries cope with the fallout of the COVID-19 crisis until the middle of next year. The DSSI was approved in April. It offers a temporary suspension of ‘official sector’ or government-to-government debt payments to 73 countries here, although only 43 have signed up so far. The six-month extension will see it run until at least June 30, 2021. The payments covered are not forgiven but delayed, with a repayment period of five years and a one-year grace period. The re-scheduling is intended to be what is known as Net Present Value (NPV) neutral. The World Bank estimates that, to date, the 43 countries that have signed up have deferred just over $5 billion of debt. Charity groups estimated that the six-month extension of the temporary freeze will provide a further $6.4 billion of relief for the 43 countries that have signed up. That would rise to around $11.5 billion if the extension was lengthened to the end of 2021 and nearly $16 billion if all 73 eligible countries took up the initiative. The G20 has also called on commercial creditors such as banks and investment funds to participate on comparable terms, but there has been no sign of that happening so far. At the IMF and World Bank spring meetings in the G30 will decide if the scheme should be extended by an additional six months. So far, no country has publicly applied for similar treatment from private-sector creditors.