Dhaka, Jan. 14 -- World Bank President David Malpass urged private sector creditors to finally step up and help poor countries deal with the economic and health crises unleashed by the Covid-19 pandemic and stop collecting funds urgently needed elsewhere.

Malpass told the Reuters Next conference on Wednesday that interest rate reductions could play a big role in some of the poor-country debt restructurings being done under a new G20 framework, noting that some developing countries were paying very high interest rates of 6 per cent to 7 per cent on official bilateral debt.

Malpass expressed continuing frustration about the lack of private sector support for the G20's Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI), which allows the poorest cou...