G20 finance ministers and central bankers are set to hold talks Saturday aimed at spurring global economic recovery from a coronavirus-triggered recession amid growing calls to widen debt relief for crisis-hit poor countries.
The virtual talks, hosted by Saudi Arabia, come as the surging pandemic continues to batter the global economy and campaigners warn of a looming debt crisis across poverty-wracked developing nations.
The ministers and bankers will “discuss (the) global economic outlook and coordinate collective action for a robust and sustained global economic recovery,” G20 organisers in Riyadh said in a statement.
The talks, chaired by Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan and central bank governor Ahmed al-Kholifey, come a day after the European Union held its first face-to-face summit in five months to discuss a post-virus economic rescue plan.
Kristalina Georgieva, the International Monetary Fund’s managing director, has warned that despite some signs of recovery, the global economy faces sustained headwinds, including the possibility of a second wave of COVID-19.
“We are not out of the woods yet,” Georgieva said in a message to G20 finance ministers, warning the pandemic was likely to increase poverty and inequality.
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