President William Ruto in his inaugural speech at the UNGA, urged lenders and leaders to extend the debt relief to countries affected the most by Covid.
On Wednesday September 21 speaking to world leaders at the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the Kenya head of state pointed out the need for multi-lateral lenders to relief debt for developing countries, especially those dealing with severe climatic changes and covid 19 aftermath.
“On behalf of Kenya, therefore, I join other leaders in calling upon the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and other multilateral lenders to extend pandemic-related debt relief to the worst-hit countries, especially those affected by the devastating combination of conflict, climate change and pandemic,”
“Kenya and the rest of Africa, like other developing countries, are in need of greater international partnership and cooperation to avert the economic crisis in the wake of the pandemic,” Ruto addressed.
Also Read: President Ruto’s Full Inaugural Speech at the United Nations General Assembly
President Ruto further requested, on behalf of developing countries, that the debt payment period be rescheduled to allow time for recovery from the effects of Covid.
“I urge the G20 to extend and expand the scope of the common framework to suspend or reschedule debt repayments by middle-income countries during the pandemic recovery period,” the President said.
The G20 or Group of Twenty is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union (EU).
The members are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Türkiye, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union.
Kenya’s economy was hit hard by the Covid 19, a lot of people lost their jobs and sectors such the hospitality and tourism lost a big percentage of their revenue income.
Recently, the National Treasury highlighted the Country’s debt as Ksh 8.6 trillion, with 4.1 trillion being external debt and 3.9 trillion internal debts.
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