With the shadow of no consensus looming, can a footnote seal G20 deal?

With Chinese president Xi Jinping giving a miss to the G20 leaders' summit in Delhi, there is increasing speculation that China doesn't want to see a joint communique coming from Delhi

In last year’s G20 Bali Declaration, China had a problem with the proposed paragraph No. 33, which called for private and bilateral creditors to take a haircut on their debt extended to stressed economies. Hence, a footnote was added to the final declaration including China’s position that multilateral development banks (MDBs) should also take a haircut.

“Noting that one member has divergent views on debt issues in paragraph 33, and emphasised the importance of debt treatment by multilateral creditors like MDBs,” the footnote said.

As television channels reported on Friday that there had been no consensus on finding a common