Developing countries' debt troubles to be focus of G20 talks — German finance min

The outlook for the global economy and the situation of highly indebted countries will be the main topics discussed at the Group of 20 (G20) meetings taking place this week in India, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said on Monday.

“China in particular plays an important role here,” Lindner told Reuters in an interview. China is by far the largest creditor for many highly indebted countries in Africa and Asia, and has been repeatedly pressed to make concessions.

G20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs will meet from Feb. 22 to Feb. 25 to discuss rising debt troubles among developing countries due to the pandemic and the Ukraine war.

India supports a push by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the US for the so-called Common Framework (CF) — a G20 initiative launched in 2020 to help poor countries delay debt repayments — to be expanded to include middle-income countries.

Lindner argues that this framework should be first tested with poor countries before it is expanded to middle income countries: “We can't take the third step without taking the second.”

However, Lindner added that he sees a lot of potential in the CF, which is why all stakeholders must now be brought to the table to jointly decide which instrument is chosen.

No country can avoid its responsibility, he said, without implicitly mentioning China.

Reuters