The World Bank is seeing “a huge willingness” on the part of official bilateral creditors to suspend debt payments by the world’s poorest countries so they can focus on fighting the coronavirus pandemic, a top Bank official said on Monday.

World Bank Managing Director Axel van Trotsenburg said the Group of 20 major economies and the Group of Seven (G7) had been largely supportive of a call by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund for a temporary halt in debt payments. “Everybody understands that we need to help the poorest countries. There is a huge willingness – as in nobody is questioning that, absolutely nobody,” he told Reuters in an interview. “I think we are in a good place to move forward.”

Finance officials from the G7 and G20 countries are due to discuss the debt relief issue this week. Two sources familiar with the process said details were still being finalized, but they expected the G20 countries to back a temporary suspension of debt payments.