INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Countries going through a sovereign default need a debt rework mechanism that grants timely relief, even if that means finding a solution
Lanka, Lazard plays a key role in a number of critical debt restructurings at a time when emerging markets more widely face renewed pressure
from growing debt burdens and rising global borrowing costs.The G20 Common Framework - a mechanism designed to provide a swift and
comprehensive debt overhaul to poor nations buckling under debt burdens after the COVID-19 shock - was launched by the G20 in late 2020
Zambia, Ghana and Ethiopia are currently reworking their debt under the programme, which has been widely criticised for slow progress that
has left countries in limbo.Meanwhile Sri Lanka, too wealthy to qualify for the framework, has seen comparatively swifter progress so far in
part the increase in the number of different creditors that debt-distressed countries now need to negotiate with, from Chinese policy and
commercial banks, to international and in some cases local bondholders.But countries signing up to the programme might have also
originally presented as if there was a full agreement behind it and a complete understanding of what it entailed
The Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable was launched late last year and held meetings in February, April and September.Another meeting of the
roundtable - which brings together official and private creditors as well as governments and international lenders such as the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) - is scheduled for the World Bank IMF annual meeting in Morocco which kicks off next week.While the Common Framework
might eventually evolve to become that smooth and swift mechanism, in the interim a pragmatic but principled solution would have to be found
