The finance chiefs of the Group of 20 (G20) leading industrial and emerging countries were unable to agree on a joint statement at the end of their two-day meeting on Saturday due in part to differences over Russia's attack on Ukraine.
Instead, the chair country India published its own individual summary of the ministerial meeting.
Sources within the negotiating circles said China and Russia had prevented a consensus on the final wording of a joint declaration on the meeting's outcome.
There had been disagreement among finance ministers on two points: On the condemnation of the Russian invasion on Ukraine as a "war" and on a paragraph on debt relief for poor countries.
Germany and France made it clear on Friday that they would not tolerate any wording that fell short of the statement made by the heads of state and government at the 2022 summit in Bali.
In Bali in November 2022, the G20 had clearly named the Russian war and formulated: "Most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine."
India, which currently holds the presidency of the G20, however, wants to remain neutral in the conflict and also avoid a debate on additional sanctions targeting Russia.
"We need absolute clarity: this is a war," emphasized German Finance Minister Christian Lindner, adding that the war had a clear perpetrator in Russia.
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said: "We will reject any step backwards from the Bali Declaration." France would not support a declaration that fell short of the Bali formulation.
Lindner had also admonished China on Friday to do more for when it comes to possible debt relief.
China is one of the world's largest lenders. According to calculations by the World Bank, the poorest countries have to transfer around $62 billion annually to their creditors for debt service - two-thirds of which they owe to China.
