A failure to secure meaningful progress on debt relief for the world's poorest nations at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meeting in Washington has left policymakers, campaigners and investors frustrated.
Two years ago the Group of 20 leading rich and developing nations launched the Common Framework — a mechanism designed to provide a swift and comprehensive debt overhaul to nations buckling under debt burdens after the COVID-19 economic shock that would reach beyond temporary debt payment moratoriums.
But results have proven elusive, hampered by a combination of a lack of progress in bringing key creditors around the table and getting them to commit to joint action. They have also struggled to establish debt parameters that form the basis of talks, while political upheavals in some of the countries have hampered progress.