The Head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis, has urged the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to reduce the debt burden of poor countries hit by the economic impact of the coronavirus.
According to a Reuters report on Thursday, the Pope said it would give them a voice at global discourse.
In a letter to participants at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank’s annual spring meeting, the Pope said the pandemic had forced the world to come to terms with interrelated socioeconomic, ecological, and political crises.
“The notion of recovery cannot be content to a return to an unequal and unsustainable model of economic and social life, where a tiny minority of the world’s population owns half of its wealth,” the pontiff said.
He called for a new “global plan that necessarily means giving poorer and less developed nations an effective share in decision-making and facilitating access to the international market.”
The Pope added that “A spirit of global solidarity demands at the least a significant reduction in the debt burden of the poorest nations, which has been exacerbated by the pandemic.”
