When the Common Framework was launched by the G20 in November 2020, it was celebrated as a breakthrough, and for good reason: it promised a fundamental and long-overdue shift in the sovereign debt restructuring regime at a critical time. The official bilateral creditors who signed on to the framework included China, which had become the largest official bilateral creditor to low-income countries, but had been reluctant to join established restructuring institutions, such as the Paris Club. The Common Framework moreover incorporated the Paris Club’s principle of comparability of treatment, recognizing the need for more robust tools to ensure private sector participation in the restructuring process. Insistence on comparability and a willingness to consider debt reduction, not just debt rescheduling made the Common Framework a highly promising improvement on its predecessor, the Debt Service Suspension Initiative.

But almost two years on, the IMF, the World Bank, and a host of other policy, civil society, and market stakeholders are raising concerns about the Common Framework’s failure ability to deliver meaningful debt relief. So what is the problem, and how can it be fixed?

Join us virtually via Zoom as a panel of experts to examine these questions from diverse perspectives as part of the Sovereign Debt Forum’s regular webinar series on the pressing challenges facing the international community in sovereign debt and related areas.

Agenda and Speakers

Introduction

Sean Hagan, Professor from Practice, Georgetown Law; Former General Counsel, IMF

Moderator

Anna Gelpern, Anne Fleming Research Professor, Professor of Law, Georgetown Law; Nonresident Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics

Speakers

Elena Daly, Principal, EM Conseil; Senior Adviser, Global Sovereign Advisory

Guillaume Chabert, Deputy Director, Strategy, Policy and Review Department of the International Monetary Fund

Lee Buchheit, Visiting Professorial Fellow, Centre for Commercial Law Studies, University of London; Honorary Professor, University of Edinburgh Law School

Reza Baqir, Former Governor, State Bank of Pakistan