U.S. Treasury official says G20 debt relief scheme must be transparent

[December 08, 2020]  TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Undersecretary for International Affairs Brent McIntosh said on Tuesday that "continuing vigilance" was needed to check that China and other countries participate transparently in a Group of 20 debt relief framework.

Brent McIntosh, General Counsel, U.S. Department of the Treasury, speaks at the 2019 Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., April 29, 2019. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

Leaders of the world's 20 biggest economies last month endorsed a plan to extend a freeze in debt service payments by the poorest countries to mid-2021 and agreed to a common approach for dealing with debt problems beyond that.

"We're going to need to see (if) countries actually participate fully and transparently here. Will the Chinese banks in particular participate in a way that's robust and transparent to help out the countries that desperately need this aid?," McIntosh said in an online event hosted by the Milken Institute.

"It's going to require continuing vigilance," he added. "Making sure that we are carefully monitoring whether it gets implemented fully and transparently is going to be an effort over a period of months and years."

(Reporting by Daniel Leussink; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

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