IMF’s Director Will Visit China At The End of March

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva, will visit China from March 24 to March 30. According to an anonymous source, Georgieva will deliver a keynote speech at the China Development Forum in Beijing on March 26 and speak in the Boao town of Qionghai City, Hainan province on March 30. The source added that she will also participate in several side events and bilateral meetings with the authorities while she is there.

It is reported that before Georgieva’s visit to Beijing, the new leadership team of Communist China took office after the National People’s Congress, including the new premier Li Qiang and Vice Premier He Lifeng, who succeeded Liu He as the top economic official of Communist China. Previously, Georgieva had been pressuring Communist China to participate more fully in providing debt relief to countries that are in economic distress after borrowing heavily from it.

The CCP government has agreed to provide specific financing guarantees to Sri Lanka, which is expected to provide the troubled island nation with a $2.9 billion IMF bailout. But it is unclear whether Communist China will provide similar guarantees and debt principal relief to other debt-ridden countries, including Zambia. The CCP insists that multilateral development banks share the debts of poor countries, a demand that has been opposed by the World Bank, the United States, and other rich and developing countries.