Sri Lanka in talks with China on debt restructuring, president says

Name: IMF agrees to bail Sri Lanka out with US$2.9 billion conditional package
Uploaded: 2022-10-06T09:34:29.000Z
Duration: 3 min 13 s
Description: IMF agrees to bail Sri Lanka out with US$2.9 billion conditional package

Ranil Wickremesinghe tells Parliament the discussions will continue after Communist Party congress in Beijing

Island nation, which is nearly bankrupt, borrowed heavily from China in the past decade for infrastructure projects

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Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe in Tokyo last week. He told Parliament on Thursday that the Japanese authorities had agreed to mediate the talks with China. Photo: AP

Associated Press

Published: 5:34pm, 6 Oct 2022

Sri Lanka’s president says his government has started debt restructuring discussions with China, an important step towards finalising an International Monetary Fund rescue of the island nation from its worst economic crisis.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe told Parliament on Thursday that the initial talks would continue after China’s Communist Party congress meeting that begins on October 16.

Wickremesinghe, who recently returned from a trip to Japan, also said the Japanese authorities agreed to mediate the talks with China.

“China has been supporting us from ancient times and we believe they will do the same in these difficult times,” Wickremesinghe said.

Sri Lanka is nearly bankrupt and has suspended repaying its US$51 billion foreign debt, of which it must repay US$28 billion by 2027.

03:13

IMF agrees to bail Sri Lanka out with US$2.9 billion conditional package

Sri Lanka has reached a preliminary agreement with the IMF for a US$2.9 billion rescue package over four years. Finalisation of the rescue hinges on assurances from Sri Lanka’s creditors on debt restructuring.

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