Sri Lanka has concluded debt restructuring talks with Japan and will continue to hold such meetings with India this month, President Ranil Wickremesinghe announced on Saturday, as the cash-strapped country looks to carve a path out of its worst financial crisis.
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The crisis-hit island nation, which is trying to secure a USD 2.9 billion bridge loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has been trying to get financial assurances from its major creditors — China, Japan and India — which is the requisite for Colombo to get the bailout package.
The IMF bailout has been put on a halt as Sri Lanka pursues talks with creditors to meet the global lender’s condition for the facility.
Addressing trade unionists here, the president said that the debt restructuring talks with China’s Exim bank were held this week and further dialogue is in progress.
“On January 19, the Indian foreign minister is expected to visit and we will continue to have debt restructuring talks with India,” Wickremesinghe said.
His remarks have come days after Wickremesinghe said India’s response to Sri Lanka’s request for debt restructuring is expected by the end of this month.
{{/usCountry}}His remarks have come days after Wickremesinghe said India’s response to Sri Lanka’s request for debt restructuring is expected by the end of this month.
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He had earlier said that India and Sri Lanka held “successful” talks on debt restructuring and the country will also begin discussions with China.
Wickremesinghe stressed that the only option that the island nation was left with was a bailout package from the IMF.
The president said he was looking forward to the IMF facility in 3-4 tranches.
“I want to lift this country out of the plunge sooner,” he said.
Sri Lanka began debt restructuring talks with its creditors in September last year as warranted by its agreement with the IMF for the USD 2.9 billion facility over four years.
It began negotiating with the IMF for a bail-out after having announced its first-ever sovereign debt default in April last year.
The IMF facility would enable the island nation to obtain bridging finance from markets and other lending institutions such as the ADB and the World Bank.
“We would then recommence by the end of this year several projects that were stalled with Japan,” Wickremesinghe said.
He said there were no quick fixes to the current crisis and Sri Lanka had to be wary of sliding growth in Europe and the US which would have a direct bearing on the country’s exports.
The president’s meeting with trade unions assumes significance in view of hard economic reform measures to be implemented by the government.
Personal tax hikes and electricity tariff hikes proposed and the move to privatise state-owned enterprises are being already opposed by the trade unions.
The doctors’ trade union is set to observe a black week later this month to protest personal tax rises.
Trade union leaders, who took part in the meeting, said they emphasised the need to reach a collective understanding of the proposed reforms.
They said they had opposed the government’s plan to privatise state-owned enterprises.