Full Statement related to Sri Lanka
We remain concerned that serious challenges to debt sustainability are undermining the progress towards the SDGs and low-and middle-income countries are disproportionately affected by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and wider global challenges.
We reiterate the urgency of addressing debt vulnerabilities in these countries and fully support the G20’s effort to improve the implementation of the Common Framework for Debt Treatments beyond the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) in a predictable, timely, orderly and coordinated manner, providing clarity to participants. We welcome the recent approval by the IMF board of a program for Ghana. Beyond the Common Framework, debt vulnerabilities in middle income countries (MICs) should be addressed by multilateral coordination.
In this respect, we welcome the launch of the creditors’ meeting for Sri Lanka under the three co-chairs, France, India, and Japan, and look forward to a swift resolution as a successful model for future multilateral efforts to address MICs’ debt issues.
We also stress the importance of private creditors providing debt treatments on terms at least as favorable to ensure fair burden sharing in line with the comparability of treatment principle.
We welcome the development of Climate Resilient Debt Clauses (CRDC) to enhance the safety net for borrowers facing the impacts of climate change. We welcome work by our finance ministers on this topic and encourage more creditors to offer CRDC for loan agreements. In order to enhance debt data accuracy and transparency, we invite all official bilateral creditors to join the data sharing exercise for debt data reconciliation, including through further advancing the G20’s initiative in the area of debt data accuracy.