##ity needs, such as debt moratoriums and temporary lay - off assistance, and to facilitate their access to new financing, such as loan guarantee programmes. central banks deployed a wide array of emergency liquidity facilities and new asset purchase programmes, as well as funding facilities to support the essential role of banks in financing the real economy. with this objective in mind, bank supervisors used the flexibilities embedded in regulation and accounting standards so as to increase banks ’ headroom to absorb losses. these actions have achieved their short - term objectives, setting the stage for the subsequent recovery. the multi - front policy response to the covid - 19 crisis has prevented the drying - up of liquidity and avoided an immediate credit crunch that could have led to a large wave of defaults, warding off a deflationary spiral with probable profound economic and financial stability consequences. unlike other crisis episodes, in which credit crunches have been a problem, the policy mix has contributed to banks acting as part of the solution to the crisis, rather than as amplifiers of the initial shock. interventions have been devised in the spirit of close and constructive cooperation. g20 finance ministers and central bank governors, together with the major international organisations, worked in close contact, participated in several scheduled and unscheduled ( virtual ) meetings and exchanged information on a continuous basis. as mandated by leaders in march, a list of key principles and commitments for a coordinated response to the crisis was laid down under the saudi presidency. the action plan was endorsed in april and updated in october, coherent with the idea that – as a “ living document ” – it must regularly take into account ongoing developments and our progressive understanding of health and economic challenges. a vital part of the plan is the support provided to low income countries in the form of free resources for addressing the health crisis. through the debt service suspension initiative ( dssi ), by mid - october official creditors suspended debt - service payments of about 5 billion dollars from 46 countries who requested it. multilateral development banks committed additional resources to the value of 75 billion dollars to eligible countries. a common framework was endorsed last week to facilitate an orderly debt treatment of dssi - eligible countries, and is now being submitted for the approval of leaders. these initiatives will remain under the lens of the italian presidency, as part of a broader effort to deal with debt - related issues, enhance global financial safety nets, and improve mechanisms for financing development. * * * the policy response to the global economic jolt

ignazio visco : the g20 under italy ’ s leadership in 2021 keynote speech by mr ignazio visco, governor of the bank of italy, at the global foundation – rome roundtable 2020 “ which way the world after the pandemic? our inclusive human future ”, virtual meeting, 16 - 17 november 2020. * * * your excellences, ladies and gentlemen, it is a great pleasure to join the 2020 virtual edition of the rome roundtable meeting. i would like to thank the secretary general steve howard for giving me the opportunity to address such a distinguished group of guests and the chairman rob knott for his kind introduction. next year italy will chair the group of twenty ( g20 ) for the first time since it started its gatherings in 1999. our presidency, not unlike the one that is about to conclude, takes hold under exceptional circumstances. the covid - 19 pandemic, a human tragedy, has triggered an economic collapse that is unprecedented in recent history. according to the latest imf projections, global activity will contract by 4. 4 per cent this year, the worst result since world war ii. at the time of the global financial crisis, in their statement at the 2009 pittsburgh summit, g20 leaders designated the group to be the “ premier forum for our international economic cooperation ”. global financial stability was then in danger ; that crisis had sizeable costs, but coordinated actions succeeded in halting a more costly spiral and, also through the work of the financial stability board ( fsb ), making our financial systems more resilient. today ’ s pandemic crisis brings to the fore another extremely dangerous challenge that must be addressed with ever closer cooperation across countries. we now realise that the risks of a global health crisis have been substantially underestimated. they are by no means the only ones : environmental sustainability, poverty eradication, trade openness, financial stability and knowledge transfer all contain elements of a global public good, whose provision may fall dangerously below desirable levels if national interests and market outcomes are not mediated through the balance of a truly multilateral, consensus - based and far - sighted approach. * * * three keywords embody the overarching priority themes of the italian g20 presidency : people, planet, and prosperity. the agenda of the italian g20 finance track, the work stream led by finance ministers and central bank governors, will then be inspired by those three words. as a cross - cutting issue i want to emphasise