Exclusive-Sri Lanka to ask Japan to open talks on debt restructuring with key lenders
2022.08.18 15:10
FILE PHOTO: Ranil Wickremesinghe who has been elected as the Eighth Executive President under the Constitution speaks to media as he leaves a Buddhist temple, amid the country’s economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka July 20, 2022. REUTERS/ Dinuka Liyanaw
By Uditha Jayasinghe
COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka will ask Japan to invite the Indian Ocean island’s main creditor nations, including China and India, to talks on bilateral debt restructuring, as it seeks a way out of its worst economic crisis in decades, its president said on Thursday.
“Someone needs to call in, invite the main creditor nations. We will ask Japan to do it,” President Ranil Wickremesinghe told Reuters in an interview.
Wickremesinghe said he would travel to Japan next month, and plans to hold talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
Besides seeking assistance from its allies, the country of 22 million people is also in negotiations with the International Monetary Fund for a loan package of between $2 billion and $3 billion, Wickremesinghe said.
Sri Lanka’s total bilateral debt was estimated at $6.2 billion at the end of 2020 by the IMF, according to a March report.
