It ought to cause some concern in Islamabad that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has not yet signed a formal debt relief agreement with Pakistan under the G20 initiative. While Riyadh agreed in good faith to suspend Pakistan’s debt temporarily, it still let the 31 December 2020 deadline to finalise and sign the agreement pass without a word, leading some in the local press to wonder what is really going on. It is also being reported that Pakistan has not been making regular debt repayment to the kingdom ever since the latter agreed to the debt freeze in the summer, so there can’t really be a serious problem. It could be that the Saudis were immersed in negotiations that led to the thaw with Qatar and could not spare much time for other things over the last few weeks. They have their plate full as it is, especially with the coming Biden administration in the United States expected to nudge everybody back to the negotiating table with Iran. That is why it was important for the Arabs to come up with a show of solidarity now; before Biden takes charge formally. Perhaps Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi could have brought up the matter of the loan when he called his counterpart in Riyadh to congratulate him about the GCC coming back to full strength. The debt relief will give Pakistan immediate elbow room of $1.7 billion. And while it might not seem much considering the overall quantum of our debt burden, it will still provide fiscal and monetary authorities with precious elbow room as they work out how to best deal with the economic fallout of the second wave of the coronavirus. This initiative of the G20 proves many third world leaders like Imran Khan right when they say that the best way to help impoverished and poor countries in times like the present is to lessen, or better yet write off, their debt. And now that rich countries as well as lending institutions are seeing for themselves just how much of a difference such steps can make, they should consider going all the way and writing off some, if not all, of poor country debt. After all, the rich countries are going to need the poor countries once the world recovers from the coronavirus. Otherwise who will they sell all their goods to? Hopefully the loan suspension with the Saudis will be worked out sooner rather than later and Pakistan will not face too many problems when it comes to the economy. *