China says has given US$2.1b of debt relief to poor countries

The China International Development Cooperation Agency, the country's aid agency, and the Export-Import Bank of China, the official bilateral creditors, have suspended debt service payments from 23 countries, worth a total of $1.353 billion.

BEIJING: China has extended debt relief to developing countries worth a combined $2.1 billion under the G20 framework, the highest among the group's members in terms of the amount deferred, the country's Finance Minister Liu Kun said on Friday.

Liu's comments come as African countries, hammered by the Covid-19 pandemic, face another debt crisis, and will need more long-term help than the latest G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) offers them to ward off trouble ahead and keep much-needed investments coming in.