Forecasts for the global economy are “somewhat less dire” as rich nations and China have rebounded quicker than expected from coronavirus lockdowns, but the outlook for many emerging markets has worsened, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The IMF forecast a 2020 global contraction of 4.4% in its latest World Economic Outlook, an improvement over a 5.2% contraction predicted in June, when pandemic-related business closures reached their peak.

Global finance leaders on Tuesday said the world economy had escaped a coronavirus-triggered collapse so far, but warned that failure to conquer the pandemic, maintain stimulus and tackle mounting debt among poor nations could crush a fragile recovery, Reuters reported. At the start of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, the IMF issued slightly improved growth forecasts spurred by unexpectedly stronger rebounds from coronavirus lockdowns in the wealthiest countries and China.

The international community must do more to tackle the economic fallout of the COVID-19 crisis, the head of the International Monetary Fund said on Monday, publicly calling on the World Bank to accelerate its lending to hard-hit African countries, Reuters reported. Some of the key events of the virtual and elongated annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank take place this week, with the most pressing issue how to support struggling countries. “We are going to continue to push to do even more,” IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said during an online FT Africa summit.

The Ugandan High Court on Wednesday ruled that a syndicated loan granted to a local company was illegal in a shock judgment that banks warned could lead to a spike in defaults on $1.5 billion of debt, Bloomberg News reported. The case relates to a loan Diamond Trust Bank Kenya Ltd. provided to a Kampala-based firm with interests spanning real estate to agriculture, using its Ugandan subsidiary as the agent.

A consensus is emerging among G20 nations to extend a debt-payment freeze next week for poor countries for an additional six months, a French finance ministry source said on Friday, Reuters reported. Members of the Group of 20 economic powers and the Paris Club of creditor nations agreed in April to suspend until the end of the year debt payments owed to them by poor countries to free up resources for tackling the coronavirus outbreak. G20 finance ministers are due to take a decision on what to do after the end of the year when they hold an online meeting next Wednesday, the source said.

The global economy is in “less dire” shape than it was in June but risks crashing again if governments end fiscal and monetary support too soon, fail to control the coronavirus and ignore emerging market debt problems, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

South Africa should act to preserve its insolvent national airline and seek to partner the carrier with Ethiopian Airlines Group, according to a study commissioned for ruling-party lawmakers, Bloomberg News reported. The assessment, seen by Bloomberg, was prepared by African Aviation Services Ltd. and dated Oct. 4. It was presented to a group of African National Congress lawmakers on Monday, according to an ANC official who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public.

Ethiopian Airlines Group is willing to provide planes, pilots and maintenance services to beleaguered rival South African Airways as part of a joint venture with that country’s government, Bloomberg News reported. Africa’s biggest airline is offering operational assistance, Ethiopian Chief Executive Officer Tewolde GebreMariam said in an interview in Addis Ababa. The carrier isn’t interested in helping with debt repayments or the cost of reducing the workforce, he said.

The COVID-19 pandemic could trigger a debt crisis in some countries, so investors must be ready for granting some form of relief that could also include debt cancellation, World Bank President David Malpass was quoted as saying on Sunday, Reuters reported. “It is evident that some countries are unable to repay the debt they have taken on. We must therefore also reduce the debt level. This can be called debt relief or cancellation,” Malpass told Handelsblatt business daily in an interview. “It is important that the amount of debt is reduced by restructuring,” Malpass added.

The International Monetary Fund sounded a warning over rising global debt levels and proposed reforms to the debt-restructuring process for countries that struggle to meet their obligations, a number that is set to rise as the pandemic batters economies, Bloomberg News reported.