Egypt: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres appealed to the international financial institutions and G-20 countries to provide debt relief to Pakistan to help its post flood reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts.

Addressing a joint press conference along with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh, the UN Secretary General proposed a debt swap, exchanging the payment of debt with investment in rehabilitation of the flood-affected people of Pakistan.  The UN Secretary General said that Pakistan was a middle income country and was not given the kind of debt relief and concessional funding it needed to tackle the adverse impact of climate change.

He appealed to the international financial institutions and the G-20 countries to create a mechanism for debt relief for middle income countries including Pakistan. He underlined the need for defining a clear road map to deal with the disaster, by creating an institutional framework of financing.

Published in The Daily National Courier, November, 08 2022

Like Business on Facebook, follow @DailyNCourier on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.