Developing Countries: Coronavirus

(asked on 16th July 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to support the economic recovery of developing countries affected by the covid-19 pandemic.


Answered by
Wendy Morton Portrait
Wendy Morton
This question was answered on 21st July 2020

We are working though International Financial Institutions and our bilateral programmes to help developing countries access affordable financing and advisory assistance to respond to the crisis. In doing so, we are supporting a clean, inclusive and resilient economic recovery and urgently establishing safety nets, to protect the most vulnerable.

The UK has doubled its £2.2 billion loan to the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust, which provides concessional financing for the poorest countries. With UK support, multilateral development banks are making over $200 billion of financing available to governments over 15 months.

The UK and other G20 countries, has suspended debt service payments to the poorest countries until the end of 2020. We have contributed up to £150 million to the IMF’s Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust to help developing countries meet their debt repayments. These initiatives will enable countries to use their resources to respond to the crisis.

DFID currently has social protection programmes in more than 25 countries that support people who are vulnerable to the economic impacts of COVID-19.

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