IMF hopes to resume aid talks with Sri Lanka soon
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WASHINGTON • The International Monetary Fund (IMF) hopes the unrest in Sri Lanka will be resolved soon so that aid talks that were interrupted can resume, a fund spokesman said on Thursday.
Formal discussions on a new loan programme for the cash-strapped nation began last month but were thrown off course by the political upheaval that led to the resignation of the country's president.
"We are, of course, deeply concerned about the ongoing crisis, its impact on the Sri Lankan people and, particularly, the poor and the vulnerable groups," said IMF spokesman Gerry Rice. Following constructive early talks, "clearly the political and the social emergency situation... has interrupted those discussions," he said.
The international crisis lender is "closely monitoring" developments there, and "we hope for a resolution of the current situation that would allow for our resumption of a dialogue on an IMF-supported programme", Mr Rice said.
The upheaval forced now ex-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country, amid dramatic scenes of protesters occupying the presidential palace.
Sri Lanka defaulted on its US$51 billion (S$71.5 billion) foreign debt in April and has nearly exhausted its already scarce supplies of petrol, with the government ordering the closure of non-essential offices and schools to reduce commuting and save fuel.
Sri Lanka is continuing negotiations with China for as much as US$4 billion in aid and is confident Beijing will agree "at some point", Bloomberg News reported yesterday, citing Sri Lanka's Ambassador to China Palitha Kohona .
Colombo is asking China for a loan of US$1 billion to repay an equivalent amount of Chinese debt due this year, Mr Kohona said in an interview with Bloomberg.
Sri Lanka is also seeking a US$1.5 billion credit line to pay for Chinese imports and activation of a US$1.5 billion swap, Mr Kohona added. "We are confident that at some point the Chinese system will agree to our requests because these are not unreasonable requests," the report quoted Mr Kohona as saying.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
