Prime Minister Imran Khan in a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel has underscored that the ability of developing countries to cope with the Covid-19 challenge will depend on the provision of "urgent debt relief" to them and without onerous conditions.

According to the PM Office, the premier stressed that people in the developing world face a stark choice: death by Covid-19 or by hunger.

He expressed the hope that countries like Germany will provide leadership to this issue in the forthcoming G-20 Finance Ministers' Meeting as well as spring meetings of the IMF and the World Bank.