Anonymous ID: f382fc Nov. 13, 2020, 8:15 a.m. No.11626908   ๐Ÿ—„๏ธ.is ๐Ÿ”—kun

U.S. says it is open to extending G20 debt framework to other countries

 

The United States is open to extending a joint framework for debt treatment agreed Friday by G20 finance officials for the worldโ€™s poorest countries to include middle-income countries and small island states, a senior U.S. Treasury official said.

 

However, that view is not shared by all members of the Group of 20 major economies at this stage, the official said. โ€œWeโ€™re very open to extending this to other countries,โ€ the official told reporters. โ€œItโ€™s a framework that, in our view, could apply to low-income countries, as well as middle-income countries, small island states.โ€ G20 countries on Friday agreed for the first time on a common framework for restructuring the government debts given that the COVID-19 pandemic is exacerbating the problems of poor countries that were already facing crushing debt levels before the outbreak.

 

The World Bank, International Monetary Fund and finance ministers from many middle-income countries have argued the G20โ€™s debt relief initiative must be extended to include countries that are not currently eligible. The U.S. endorsement marks a substantial step forward in that push. The senior U.S. official called the common framework a historic achievement that brought creditors such as China, India and Turkey into a coordinated debt restructuring process, along with the Paris Club of official bilateral creditors. But he said the United States would be monitoring its implementation carefully, with a big focus on China, which has sharply increased lending in the past 20 years. Estimates of total Chinese lending ranged from $350 billion to upwards of $1 trillion, the official said.

 

โ€œWe certainly will be monitoring closely exactly how it works in practice, and with a particular eye on Chinese participation,โ€ the official said. โ€œItโ€™s really the lack of transparency on Chinese debt that allows them to, in some cases, game the system and avoid full participation.โ€

https://www.reuters.com/article/g20-debt-usa/update-1-u-s-says-it-is-open-to-extending-g20-debt-framework-to-other-countries-idUSL1N2HZ1I3