Yellen Heads to India for G-20 Summit While Worries Mount Over China

(Bloomberg) --

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will make her fourth visit to India in less than a year next week, joining a summit of world leaders to discuss global economic vulnerabilities including assistance needed for distressed developing nations.

Yellen will accompany President Joe Biden at the Group of 20 leaders' gathering in New Delhi, the Treasury said Thursday. She will hold bilateral meetings with counterparts and join Biden for several of his engagements on the margins of the meetings, the Treasury said.

The confab will offer another opportunity to engage with Chinese officials at a time of mounting concerns over the potential ripple effects of China's slowdown and financial strains among its property developers. Biden said Thursday he “hopes” President Xi Jinping shows up, though signals suggest China will have lower-level representation at the summit.

The US will be seeking to rally allies to maintain economic support for Ukraine and impose costs on Russia through measures including sanctions and the price cap on Russian oil, a Treasury official said.

Yellen, who will be traveling to India from Sept. 7-10, has been using G-20 gatherings over the past year to advocate for progress on bolstering the resources of multilateral development banks.

India Ties

Part of that initiative is a plan to expand the World Bank's scope beyond country-by-country projects. Yellen wants all the development lenders to back cross-border efforts that address broad threats like climate change and pandemics. The Treasury Department estimates that these lenders — as a system — could unlock as much as $200 billion over the next 10 years by implementing change. 

While in New Delhi, Yellen will meet with Indian counterparts to discuss common priorities like expanding bilateral economic ties and cooperating on global challenges, the Treasury said.

Yellen's meetings are part of a concerted push by Washington to strengthen ties with Asian nations and reduce Chinese influence in the region. Yellen also visited Vietnam in July, while Biden plans to head to Hanoi after the G-20 to discuss deeper cooperation between the two nations.

Meantime, economies around the world have been grappling with the consequences of China's weaker-than-expected rebound from its Covid lockdowns, and defaults by its real estate developers thanks to a deep downturn in the property market.

Yellen earlier this month said that China's woes were a “risk factor” for the US.

Read More: Yellen Says China's Slowdown Is ‘Risk Factor' for US Economy

(Updates with context on China's challenges in final two paragraphs.)

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