China is working to help manage debt repayments for poorer countries hit by the coronavirus outbreak and also contributing to a trust to aid them, said International Monetary Fund managing director Kristalina Georgieva.

Coronavirus has had a huge impact on the world economy, with the illness itself, and social distancing measures to prevent its spread, affecting workers and businesses. It is feared that the world's poorest countries will be badly affected.

Georgieva said that China was working at ways to ease debt repayments for countries that are struggling economically due to the virus.

She told a WHO press briefing that China had "instructively engaged on this issue of debt standstill for poor countries so that they can weather the tremendous difficulties they are faced with during this crisis.

"We had a G20 ministers of finance call earlier this week, this topic of potentially having a debt relief for poor countries was on the agenda and China addressed that issue by framing a set of principles they would be interested to see being integrated in the process.”

Georgieva also said that China was looking to help countries that are suffering economically from COVID-19 through an IMF trust: "It is also important to point out China's decision to contribute to the Catastrophe Containment Relief Trust that the IMF has been mobilising to make sure that poor countries do not have to serve their debt obligations to the IMF and this would be taken off by grant provision and China is one of the countries that is making commitments to that fund - that trust."