Pakistan, other developing countries need debt relief to cope with COVID-19 challenges: PM.

ISLAMABAD -- Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday reiterated his call of a debt-relief for the developing countries, including Pakistan, to cope with the challenges, including the economic difficulties and overwhelmed healthcare system, emerged in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak.

Speaking at the COVID Action Platform of the World Economic Forum via video link, he said there should be a debt relief as they needed fiscal space to divert their resources to the healthcare system, besides mitigating the economic effects of the lockdown.

The prime minister said the G-20 states had already come up with a policy of debt-relief for the developing countries and in that respect he held telephonic discussions with the leaders of Egypt, Ethiopia and Nigeria, who were also facing economic difficulties.

He said the situation of coronavirus outbreak in South Asian countries, including Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, in terms of the spread of virus as well as the peak, which was yet to come, was different from that of the United States and Europe.

The prime minister said with the outbreak of COVID-19...