By Andrea Shalal and Leika Kihara
MARRAKECH, Morocco (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Wednesday she plans to meet Chinese central bank boss Pan Gongsheng this week for talks that will broach debt issues.
Commenting on discussions with China on restructuring the debt of struggling poor countries, Yellen said: “Although progress has been slow and certainly needs to be improved … we have seen some meaningful progress in particular cases.”
She said she was hopeful that more progress could be made.
The meeting with Pan will take place on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund’s annual gathering in Marrakech this week, Yellen said.
China is a key player in negotiations on deals to ease financial burdens for emerging and low-income countries that are struggling to pay back huge debts amid rising interest rates.
World Bank President Ajay Banga said China has been a cooperative partner of the development lender, but more transparency was needed on debt contracts in order to accelerate restructurings.
“We’re making meaningful progress in … establishing a contact with respect to economic and financial issues of concern to both of our nations on a regular basis, and we expect to have good channel to discuss debt issues with them,” Yellen said of discussions with China.
“We’ve worked very constructively with representatives from the PBOC (central bank) to advance a common agenda that relates to climate change, and so I definitely see a potential for us to deepen our work together, and I’m optimistic about that,” she said.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Leika Kihara; editing by Jason Neely and John Stonestreet)
