Sri Lanka's Rajapaksa urges debt relief for developing countries

COLOMBO (News1st): Sri Lanka's President Gotabaya Rajapaksa reiterated appeals to provide debt relief to vulnerable countries, as the country deals with an economic crisis amidst the coronavirus. "...developing countries are facing an unprecedented economic and debt crisis due to the pandemic," the President told an online summit hosted by the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). Sri Lanka has to settle at least 4.8 billion US dollars in external debt for 2020, but with bond auctions being repeatedly undersubscribed, and revenues dropping, the country has printed Rs 223.6 billion this year. "It is important to emphasize that middle-income countries too face critical and diverse economic and social challenges that have been augmented by this pandemic," the President said. Rajapaksa welcomed the move to set-up a NAM Task Force which has been tasked with surveying its member states, pointing out that his government too set-up a task force in February. He expressed his deepest condolences to all those who lost their loved ones due to the pandemic and saluted frontline workers involved in the fight against the virus. The President commented on the steps the country has taken to curb the spread of the virus, pointing out that the mortality rate due to the virus in the country stands at 0.97 percent. Sri Lanka reported its eighth death on Tuesday, with the total number of infections standing at 721, and the number of recoveries at 194. "Most of these persons were asymptomatic," Rajapaksa observed. He added that establishing quarantine centres, tracing contacts of infected patients, and imposing curfews had assisted in stemming the spread of the virus in the country. "It is essential to ensure that all countries have unrestricted access to vital medical resources required to respond to this virus and do not face impediments in their procurement," the President insisted. He said the government has rolled out measures to financially support low-income earning families, repatriate Sri Lankans, and explore new business avenues, as part of efforts to mitigate the virus.