AFRICA private creditors have formed a working group that will assist African countries and other debt providers to cushion the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the continent, Bloomberg has reported.
This would be carried out by negotiating debt relief for African nations, the group said in a statement Friday.
Private creditors representing more than $9 trillion of assets warned on the risks of a blanket approach to the process.
The private creditors include private bondholders, private banks, other private financial institutions, and manufacturers, exporters, and other suppliers of goods that have a financial claim.
The group, coordinating the view of more than 25 of the world’s foremost asset managers and financial institutions, has established a number of core principles of engagement.
Chief among those is that a one-size-fits-all solution will be counter-productive for the continent, it said.
African countries are asking official and private creditors to temporarily suspend payments in order to channel resources to contain the pandemic.
The virus threatens to overwhelm the health system of a continent that is home to two-thirds of the world’s poor.