Debt obligations frozen

The G-20 agreed to freeze poor nations’ debt obligations on 15 April, shortly after nearly 20 European and African leaders made a joint appeal in the Financial Times for a massive international effort to boost Africa’s coronavirus response, saying that “only a global victory that fully includes Africa can bring this pandemic to an end.” France’s President Macron called this “a moral, human duty” and pushed further for debt rescheduling and, in some cases, debt cancellation, saying, “No region can win the battle against COVID-19 alone … if it is not beaten in Africa, it will return to haunt us all.”