Washington DC – On Monday, G20 finance ministers and central bank governors arrive in Asheville, North Carolina, for two days of meetings. In a briefing for the G20, the IMF noted that the economic shock of the Middle East war continues to damage growth and five-year economic projections remain close to their weakest point since 2009. As chair of this year’s G20 finance track, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced an agenda that centers on accelerating economic growth, global imbalances, improving debt restructurings and transparency, and modernizing financial regulation.

“The G20 meets amid growing concerns on the economy and our high food and fuel prices,” said Eric LeCompte, the Executive Director of the religious development organization Jubilee USA Network. LeCompte has monitored G20 meetings since 2010. “The immediate worries about the US bond market could overtake conversations.”

Global debt levels remain at an all-time high and continue to rise. In a program on debt sustainability G20 finance leaders adopted unanimously last year – the only consensus they reached in 2025 – they agreed that high debt is an obstacle to growth in many developing countries and undermines investments in health, education and infrastructure priorities.

“Dealing with global debt is essential for boosting economic growth for everyone,” added LeCompte.

Earlier in the year the US G20 Presidency led a process to renew guidelines for sovereign debt restructurings and build support for a creditor-debtor agreements blueprint, both seeking to strengthen transparency, monitoring and speed in debt reduction processes.

“The US agenda seeks to address debt vulnerabilities before they turn into crises and expand the number of countries that benefited from debt restructuring tools such as the G20 Common Framework,” shared LeCompte.