UN chief Antonio Guterres on Wednesday asked India for support in mobilizing G20 nations to help debt-ridden developing nations, with three of India’s neighbors already seeking loans from the IMF as their economies struggle.India takes over the G20 presidency from Indonesia for a year from December 1. India’s neighbors Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh have sought IMF loans in recent months as high oil prices complicate efforts to recover from the economic damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I count on India’s support in mobilizing the G20 countries on debt relief,” Guterres told students and faculty at the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai. “Many developing countries are close to or approaching debt distress and require multilateral action, including the extension and expansion of the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative.
Established in May 2020 during the pandemic, the initiative allowed nearly 50 countries to suspend $12.9 billion in debt service payments by the end of last year. Guterres said climate change is “already a serious threat” to India’s economy, agriculture and food sector, and to the health, lives and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people. “Record heat waves, drought and floods in some parts of India are already wreaking havoc,” he said. “This is a harbinger of what’s to come without much larger global climate action.”
He said the G20 countries are responsible for 80 percent of global emissions and must take the lead in reducing them. Rich countries should also financially help developing ones to do so, he said. “I have called for coalitions of support around countries including India with ambitious plans to accelerate the deployment of renewables,” said Guterres, who met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Foreign Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday. Guterres also called on the country to unequivocally condemn hate speech, protect the rights and freedoms of journalists, human rights activists, students and academics, and ensure the independence of the judiciary.
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