Sri Lanka has postponed a round of debt restructuring talks initially expected to be held on Thursday to allow central bank and treasury officials to provide clarifications sought by the country’s creditors, its state minister of finance said.
The island nation formally kicked off the talks in September after securing a preliminary $2.9 billion bailout with the International Monetary Fund, a step on a path out of the country’s worst financial crisis in a decade.
“We are focusing on financing assurances. As of now no bilateral creditor has informed us that they are not going to support us,” Semasinghe added.
“We have a target and we are pushing hard to meet it in December.”
Sri Lankan officials have also had talks with representatives from China EXIM Bank and China Development Bank which together hold about $4.3 billion in loans given to fund large infrastructure projects over the last 20 years. China is Sri Lanka’s largest bilateral lender.
Sri Lanka has been gripped by a deep financial crisis this year caused by record-low foreign exchange reserves that has left the island of 22 million people struggling to pay for essential imports including fuel, food, cooking gas and medicine.
Reuters.
