G7 Finance Ministers Discuss Coronavirus Debt and Transparency Impacts for Developing Countries

Amidst questions of upcoming G7 meeting dates and which countries are participating, G7 Finance Ministers met virtually about economic issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The G7 meeting focused on aid, debt and transparency issues affecting developing countries impacted by the coronavirus.

"The G7 clearly sees the need for greater debt transparency policies and that poor countries will likely need more debt relief to address the impacts of the coronavirus," stated Jubilee USA Director Eric LeCompte. LeCompte addressed these issues at a special session of the United Nations on Tuesday, "Unfortunately, the G7 seems blind to the role of private and commercial creditors who hold large portions of poor country debt."

Kristalina Georgieva, the head of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank leader David Malpass and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin attended the meeting.

"Private creditors cannot be asked for voluntary participation. The crisis is so great that we must compel private and commercial creditor participation in debt transparency and relief measures," shared LeCompte who on Tuesday urged the United Nations Security Council to compel private creditor participation, "If private creditors are not told to come to the negotiation table, we run the risk that debt cancellation and relief could be used to pay private creditors."

Read Eric LeCompte's Remarks to the United Nations here.

Read the G7 Finance Meeting Statement here.