Some G20 differences remain over imbalances, sovereign debt, US Treasury official says

By David Lawder

ASHEVILLE, North Carolina, Sept 1 (Reuters) - A Group of 20 joint statement reflecting U.S. priorities on reducing global imbalances and sovereign debt restructurings may not be possible due to some remaining differences over language, U.S. Treasury Undersecretary for International Affairs Erin Browne told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.

"We've been working really hard on a communiqué, but we want to make sure that it reflects U.S. interests and America First priorities, and if we are unable to come to a conclusion, we're comfortable with that," Browne said, adding that the alternative would be to issue a chair's statement on the discussions.

Browne said that there were differences among trade surplus and trade deficit countries on the language surrounding the challenges posed by global imbalances.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who is pushing the effort for countries to bring down trade and fiscal imbalances, said on Tuesday that these were "sucking" much-needed growth out of the global economy.

Browne declined to discuss G20 member China's specific stance in the communiqué negotiations, but said that China is widely viewed as the biggest source of imbalances around the world. Many other G20 countries agreed on the need to cut imbalances, she said.

"I think a lot of members of the G20 think this is a really significant and if not one of the most pressing issues for us to focus on within the G20," Browne said.

Failure to correct them could ultimately result in "a real financial stability event" as economic dependencies and vulnerabilities grow, she added.

(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Andrea Ricci )