Debt restructuring talks made little to no progress during the third finance meeting of the G20 countries in India as the bloc was not able to overcome key differences and low attendance at the meeting due to domestic issues.
The Finance Ministers representing various countries gathered at the G20 meeting in Gujarat, hoping to push for agreements on debt restructuring for the countries in vulnerable states, global minimum taxation and reforms on multilateral development banks.
A senior official present at the meeting told Reuters, “We are not making much headway with the debt restructuring issue.”
Zambia, last month struck a deal to restructure $6.3 billion in debt it owed to the governments abroad, in what was looked as a breakthrough for indebted nations around the globe that came across lengthy negotiations with their creditors. Nations did not agree to see Zambia as a model for other countries to restructure debt and most reminded unwilling to talk about the fresh lending to vulnerable countries as many G20 countries have been facing serious economic challenges back home, the official added.
Ministers representing many countries chose to skip the meeting, around 13 finance leaders attended the event with the United States sending their biggest delegation which was led by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. The 2-day meet in Gujarat kicked off on Monday which is seen as a key event before the G20 meeting set to held in the Indian capital New Delhi in September.
Officials said that several ministers chose to skip the meeting pertaining to the domestic issues which were of ‘priority’ in nature. The absence of several delegates have crimped the bloc’s decision-making ability in the meet and slowed progress on building consensus on any issue, the officials added.
Among the delegates present in the meeting represented Japan, Austraila, Canada, Indonesia, South Korea, South Africa, United States and India.
Argentina, Brazil, France and Mexico sent junior-level delegates to the meet whereas Germany and Britain did not attend the meeting.
“In the absence of ministerial representation, officials making representation on the behalf of countries are often stating that they have to go back and consult their ministers before finalizing their stand on the issues.” an official commented.