Debt restructuring talks held on the sidelines of the G-20 finance chiefs meeting made little headway due to being riddled with multiple disagreements between the parties in attendance, thereby posing a risk to poorer nations that continue to face a mounting debt crisis.
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva claimed that despite the lack of progress, the Group of 20 had at least set the stage to solve such debt issues. “While there are still some disagreements, we now have the global sovereign debt roundtable with consideration of all public and private creditors,” she explained.
World Bank president David Malpass seemed to be in agreement with Georgieva as he stated his desire to develop a problem-solving process at Saturday’s roundtable discussion.
During the discussion, debt-ridden countries were given an opportunity to air their concerns to the World Bank. As a result of the deadlock that followed, restructuring programs for struggling nations such as Zambia and Sri Lanka continue to be stalled.
“We should work together to achieve solutions – Zambia MOU, Ghana official creditors’ committee, Ethiopia rescheduling, and Sri Lanka financial assurances. All of which can be done in the next few months if there is agreement at the table,” Malpass commented.