“Global Business, Workers, Civil Society Join Call for Debt Relief for Poorer Nations”, 10 April 2020

The International Chamber of Commerce on Friday joined a global trade union and a major civil society group to urge immediate debt relief for the world's poorest countries to help them fight the coronavirus pandemic …

The ICC, the International Trade Union Confederation and Global Citizen … warned that failure to address the debt … of developing countries could trigger a series of debt defaults that would have devastating and wide-ranging consequences.

… [T]he Institution of International Finance … also backed the call. Other backers include the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Jubilee USA Network alliance of faith groups.

Nearly 140 campaign groups and charities, including Oxfam and Save the Children, have also urged the Group of 20 major economies and private creditors to cancel debt payments.

In their open letter … the ICC, ITUC and Global Citizen warned that some developing countries now faced an "impossible choice" between servicing sovereign debt repayments or paying nurses and purchasing ventilators.