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Dinesh to discuss Sri Lanka’s debt to China during visit next week
23 Mar, 2024
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena will visit China, his country’s biggest bilateral lender, next week, Beijing’s Foreign Ministry said Friday, according to AFP.
“At the invitation of Premier Li Qiang of the State Council, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Dinesh Gunawardena will pay an official visit to China from March 25 to 30,” Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian said in a statement.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe had said earlier that the Prime Minister will have talks on Sri Lanka’s debt to China during the visit.
Beijing accounts for around 10 percent of the island’s total foreign debt.
Sri Lanka defaulted on its $46 billion external debt in April 2022 after the country ran out of foreign exchange to finance even essential imports such as food, fuel and medicine.
It secured a $2.9 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout last year, with the programme conditional on a debt deal that satisfies foreign creditors.
The IMF said this week that it had reached a staff-level agreement with Colombo to clear the way for the release of $337 million, the third instalment of the four-year bailout. (AFP)
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