More than 300 parliamentarians from twenty countries called on Wednesday the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to cancel the debt of poor countries in the face of the potential economic consequences of the pandemic of new coronavirus.
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US Senator Bernie Sanders, behind this initiative with Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar, says poor countries must be able to mobilize all of their scarce resources to protect their people rather than repay " unsustainable debts " due to major international financial institutions. Debt forgiveness for poor countries is " the least of the things the World Bank, the IMF and other international financial institutions should do to prevent an unimaginable increase in poverty, hunger and disease that threatens hundreds millions of people, "he said.
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The signatories, from all continents, believe that the debt repayment of the poorest countries should be completely canceled rather than simply suspended, as decided by the G20 in April. The World Bank has said it will consider ways to increase support for the poorest countries, but that debt cancellation could hurt its credit rating and limit its ability to provide lower-cost financing to its members. Parliamentarians led by Bernie Sanders are also asking IMF and World Bank officials to support the creation of billions of dollars in new special drawing rights (SDRs), the IMF's " currency ".
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Signatories include former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn and former Argentine President Carlos Menem.
