US, China and India top financial sector officials will sit together at the new debt round-table discussions on the settlement of debt issues of several cash crunch countries in India on February 17 , IMF sources said.
China’s finance minister and its central bank governor will attend a round table with other creditors and some borrowing countries in February 17 in India, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in a CBS’ 60 Minutes interview.”China has to change its policies because low income countries cannot pay,” she said.
Officials from China, India, and Saudi Arabia and Group of Seven nations will participate in a first virtual meeting of a new sovereign debt round table on Friday, the International Monetary Fund said on Monday.
The round table will also include officials from countries that have requested debt treatments under the Group of 20 common frameworks – Ethiopia, Zambia and Ghana – as well as middle-income countries such as Sri Lanka, Suriname and Ecuador, which have faced their own debt crises, three sources had earlier said.
The meeting will be co-chaired by the IMF, the World Bank and India, the current leader of the Group of 20, and comes a week before G20 finance officials are due to gather in Bengaluru, India, from Feb. 23-25.
An in-person meeting of the round table expected on Feb. 25 and a formal launch is planned at the IMF-World Bank spring meetings in April.Brazil, which will lead the G20 next year, is also taking part, one of the sources said.
An IMF spokesperson confirmed the first round table meeting would take place on Friday, and said more details would be released in the near future.
“The objective is to bring together key stakeholders involved in sovereign debt restructuring, from traditional creditors from advanced economies, to new creditors like China, Saudi Arabia, India, as well as the private sector and debt countries to address the current shortcomings,” they said.
The round table will include the Paris Club of official creditors and private sector participants – the Institute of International Finance (IIF), the International Capital Markets Association and two private-sector financial institutions that have asked not to be identified, one of the sources said.
Creation of the body comes amid growing frustration about the slow pace of discussions on debt relief for Zambia, which first requested help two years ago. Organizers say the round table could help resolve issues in principle and will not focus on Zambia or other individual cases.
