The world’s top finance chiefs failed to agree on a consensus statement at meetings in Bengaluru due to an impasse over language on Russia’s war in Ukraine.
(Bloomberg) — The world’s top finance chiefs failed to agree on a consensus statement at meetings in Bengaluru due to an impasse over language on Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The issuance of a chair’s summary, as opposed to a traditional communiqué, represents something of a backtrack after a joint statement had been agreed at November’s leaders’ summit in Bali, Indonesia.
Participants agreed on much of the other material in the document, including views on a still-uncertain global economic outlook. All agreed that while economic conditions had modestly improved since they last met in October, there were still significant downside risks including “elevated inflation.”
“We’re witnessing a tectonic shift in the world order that has served us since the end of World War II,” Nadia Calvino, Spain’s deputy prime minister, told reporters before the statement was released.
Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, tried to look for positives from Saturday’s meeting of a sovereign debt roundtable that has brought public and private creditors together with a baseline commitment to find some common ground.
Georgieva called China’s participation “constructive” in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Haslinda Amin Saturday, adding that those officials had a responsibility as a big lender to be a central part of negotiations.
Debt Talks
The IMF chief urged a memorandum of understanding on Zambia, the first African nation to default, as soon as possible. She said the country has done “an amazing job” reforming the economy and deserved progress in talks with creditors.
“We welcome the conclusion of debt treatment for Chad and call for a swift conclusion of the work on debt treatment for Zambia and Ethiopia,” the chair summary said. Participants were hopeful of quick formation of an official creditor committee for Ghana and urged a “swift resolution to Sri Lanka’s debt situation.”
Leaders also highlighted the ongoing fight against inflation as a top priority throughout the talks. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Bloomberg News in an interview Saturday that “inflation continues to be a problem.”
Georgieva separately urged central banks to “stay the course” for a return to price stability that’s critical to investors and consumers alike.
–With assistance from Kamil Kowalcze, Kurien Abraham, Viktoria Dendrinou, Ruchi Bhatia, Clarissa Batino, Haslinda Amin and Yoshiaki Nohara.
(Updates with additional detail throughout as chair’s summary released.)
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