The servicing and rolling over of the public and private debt of middle-income countries is a major point of COVID-19-induced stress in the global economy. The G20’s Debt Service Suspension Initiative is a worthy initiative, but it does not address this issue. This column outlines three related steps that may help avoid a crisis. The centre-piece is recycling new and unused Special Drawing Rights for debt reduction through the repayment or repurchase of debt. Moral hazard can be addressed by reducing only those debts held by official creditors and up to an amount equal to fiscal expenditures relating to natural disasters – COVID-19 and climate change, principal amongst them.