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Japan calls for creditor nations’ talks on Sri Lanka debt restructuring
02 Sep, 2022
Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki on Friday urged all creditor nations to discuss Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring, after the crisis-hit South Asian nation reached a loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund.
“It’s important for all creditor nations, including China and India, to gather to discuss Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring,” Suzuki told a news conference.
Sri Lanka has reached a preliminary agreement with the IMF for a loan of about $2.9 billion, the global lender said on Thursday, as the country seeks a way out of its worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1948.
The agreement, which Reuters first reported on Wednesday, is subject to approval by IMF management and its executive board, and is contingent on Sri Lankan authorities following through with previously agreed measures.
“This staff-level agreement is only the beginning of a long road ahead for Sri Lanka to emerge from the crisis,” senior IMF official Peter Breuer told reporters in Colombo.
“The authorities have already begun the reform process and it will be important to continue on this path with determination.”
IMF conditions for the loan also include receiving financing assurances from Sri Lanka’s official creditors and efforts by the country to reach an agreement with private creditors. (Courtesy Reuters)
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