Colombo (LNW): The United States expects that the debt treatments for Sri Lanka and Ghana could be finalised soon so the International Monetary Fund (IMF) could move forward with initial debt porgramme reviews this fall, said US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen yesterday (16).
“We should apply the common principles we agreed to in Zambia’s case in other cases – rather than starting at zero every time. And we must go faster,” Yellen said, adding that she hoped debt treatments for Sri Lanka and Ghana could be finalised quickly so the IMF could move forward with initial loan programme reviews this fall.
Yellen said the IMF’s Poverty Reduction and Growth trust, which provides zero-interest loans to the world’s poorest countries, needed to be put on sounder financial footing. The U.S. Treasury is ready to assist the IMF to consider options for this, including using internal fund resources, she said, addressing a briefing before a meeting of Group of 20 (G20) finance ministers and central bankers in India.
The US Treasury Secretary added that her visit to Beijing last week helped put the US-China relationship on “surer footing” and that the world’s two biggest economies had an obligation to the world “to cooperate on areas of mutual concern.”
