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-Ukraine war.
Host India issued a chair’s summary, as opposed to a traditional communiqué, in a backward step after a joint statement had been agreed by all G20 members at November’s leaders’ summit in Bali, Indonesia. Russia and China disagreed with the two paragraphs on the war that had been cleared by all participants in November.
A Ukrainian soldier helps a wounded fellow soldier on the road in the freed territory in the Kharkiv region. Kostiantyn Liberov
“We jointly condemn the Russian attack on Ukraine — here there was very great common ground, however, with the exception of the very ambivalent Chinese,” German Finance Minister Christian Lindner told reporters after the statement’s release.
“Here we can see a shift in the Chinese attitude, which is very regrettable,” with officials from the strategic partner of Russia arguing that discussions only should involve “technical issues of international financial architecture,” he said.
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 finance ministers and central bankers last met in October, there were still significant downside risks including “elevated inflation.”
There was also unanimity of language on debt — something that wasn’t assured coming into the gathering.
Nirmala Sitharaman, host country India’s finance minister, said in the final press conference that having “no divergences” in the statement on debt issues marked an achievement after talks had been “very stressful.”
Hours earlier, an eighth draft of a communiqué showed lingering disagreement both on lines about the war as well as a section on debt restructuring and obligations of various kinds of creditors.
The elevation of debt restructuring as one of the top priorities of the talks dovetailed with India’s positioning as a voice for all developing countries, often collectively referred to as the Global South. The final statement also cited the need for multilateral development bank reform — a cause championed by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, among others.
