UN chief Antonio Guterres has called for debt relief to be offered to all developing and middle-income countries amid the coronavirus pandemic and urged the International Monetary Fund to consider boosting global liquidity by issuing a new allocation of its Special Drawing Rights currency.

“Alleviating crushing debt cannot be limited to the Least Developed Countries,” Guterres told a UN meeting on the pandemic's economic fallout.

“It must be extended to all developing and middle-income countries that request forbearance as they lose access to financial markets.”