Bangkok, Thailand - The Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable met on the sidelines of Annual World Bank and IMF Meetings. The body brings together debtor countries and official and private creditors to improve debt restructurings. This year the US, as G20 President, and the IMF and World Bank chair the Roundtable.

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious development group Jubilee USA Network and a United Nations finance expert who monitors G20 meetings, releases the following statement on the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable meeting during the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings: 

"The roundtable advanced proposals to improve the recovery of debtor countries after restructurings.

"One of the most important things that happened during the meeting was noting that creditors who take longer to negotiate a debt restructuring with a country may need to offer more debt relief than those creditors who negotiate a debt restructuring sooner. 

"Problems with complex and nontransparent lending will be on the agenda for upcoming meetings.

"The GSDR is looking at how to apply creditor cooperation used in the Common Framework to countries that are not currently eligible for the Common Framework process.

"Roundtable members discussed the situation of Senegal, which is the latest country to seek debt relief through the Common Framework. Senegal will be the first to go through the process since the roundtable issued new and improved guidelines."

Read Jubilee USA's press release on IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva's curtain-raiser speech here.