The United States will pitch to finalise the debt treatment plans for Ghana And Sri Lanka; continue to stress on support for Ukraine while showing support for the implementation of the capital adequacy framework and fair taxation of multinational firms at the G20 Finance Ministers Meet at Gandhinagar, starting Monday.
Speaking to the media ahead of third Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governor’s meet, United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also noted that the US is in support of the swift implementation of the capital adequacy framework recommendations.
“But I believe only we can explore capital increases, after considering reforms laid out in the report. We should build better banks not just bigger ones,” she told media on Sunday.
She further added, “Today I want to speak about four priorities to focus on distress in emerging markets in developing countries, multilateral development bank’s support for Ukraine and global tax.”
The United States is looking to push strongly on alleviating debt distress and coming up with a debt restructuring plan for Ghana and Sri Lanka, with global vulnerabilities post-pandemic and the war in Ukraine amplifying the need for it. The economic case of decisive action is clear, she added.
Evidencing the progress made in the debt restructuring in Zambia’s case, Yellen noted that she would continue to push for all bilateral creditors to overcome differences and agree on common principals for debt restructuring.
“This week I will continue to push for full and timely participation of all bilateral creditors on pending debt restructuring cases,” she said. The treasury secretary was also recently in China where she discussed topics of debt distress and climate change. The two countries also chair the sustainable finance working group at the G20.
Further, she noted that through the third FMCBG meeting, the US hopes that countries would arrive at plans for Ghana and Sri Lanka so their debt treatments can be finalised by the International Monetary Fund and can begin implementation by this fall.
The United States also sided the implementation of the global tax agenda and the implementation of the global minimum tax.
As of October 2021, over 135 countries and jurisdictions joined a new two-pillar plan to reform international taxation rules, according to the website of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
Today, many countries are moving forward to implement the global minimum tax on the earnings of large multinationals, which will end the race to the bottom on corporate tax rates, Yellen noted
“We continue to work together in the Inclusive Framework to ensure consistent implementation and we expect additional published guidance soon…We are very close to reaching agreement on the technical details of that reallocation, and we are committed to doing so soon,” Yellen added.