WASHINGTON (Reuters] – Washington is requesting faster progress to restructure the debts of countries with high levels of indebtedness under the Common Framework, which was adopted last year by both the Group of 20 economies as well as the Paris Club. This statement came Wednesday from a top Treasury official.

China is a G20 country, and it had delayed its feet in certain cases, the official stated to reporters before G20 Finance Ministers arrived in Rome on Friday.

According to the official, “The Common Framework process has been slow due in part to China’s inability make certain decisions on common-frame countries.” We are urging for the speeding up of these processes.

Officials from the G20 acknowledged that certain countries may require extra aid following a temporary halt in debt payments at the end this year. But, it was not anticipated that they would support a debt freeze as part of the Common Framework.

Officials stated that countries will begin to pay their debt service bills in the future rather than coming due at once after the debt freeze expires.

The World Bank this month warned that the debt burden https://www.reuters.com/business/poor-countries-debt-rose-12-record-860-bln-2020-world-bank-2021-10-11 of the world’s low-income countries rose 12% to a record $860 billion in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and called for urgent efforts to reduce debt levels.

A U.S. official claimed that Washington supported expanding the Common Framework (which currently comprises only Chad, Zambia, and Ethiopia) to other countries and encouraged steps to accelerate negotiations.

Official stated, “The G20 focus was on the Common Framework” and that they were working to make the framework more operational.