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Cash-strapped Sri Lanka to sign key debt deal with lenders

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Cash-strapped Sri Lanka to sign key debt deal with lenders

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Colombo: Sri Lanka has finalised its long-delayed debt deal with bilateral lenders Including China Meet key conditions IMF bailoutthe government said on Tuesday (June 25).

Government spokesman Bandula Gunawardana said a delegation from the Finance Ministry would travel to France on Wednesday to sign the agreement with creditors.

Sri Lanka defaulted on its external debt in April 2022 after running out of foreign exchange. Unprecedented economic crisis Forced then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to step down.

The government had originally expected to reach a debt agreement with all creditors by the end of 2022, but Negotiations delayed.

According to fiscal data at the end of March, bilateral creditors account for 28.5% of Sri Lanka’s current outstanding external debt of $37 billion.

China is Largest single bilateral lenderThis accounts for $4.66 billion of China’s total borrowing from other countries of $10.58 billion.

Japan ranks secondwith an investment of US$2.35 billion, and India ranked third with an investment of US$1.36 billion.

Sri Lanka’s commercial borrowings include $12.55 billion raised through International Sovereign Bonds (ISBs) and $2.18 billion from China Development Bank.

“Negotiations with ISB holders are still ongoing,” Gunawardena said, adding that the debt agreement with bilateral creditors was an important achievement for the island.

He said President Ranil Wickremesinghe would reveal details of the deal with official creditors in an address to the nation on Wednesday evening.

While the cabinet has approved the terms of the deal with creditors, Gunawardena declined to provide details, saying the president would announce it on Wednesday.

The International Monetary Fund provided Sri Lanka with The latest batch The Philippine government has allocated $336 million of a $2.9 billion bailout package to help the island nation repair its finances over four years.

Sri Lanka is heading to a presidential election this year and the opposition has vowed to renegotiate the terms of its International Monetary Fund bailout.

Peter Brewer, the IMF’s mission chief to Sri Lanka, said they were willing to listen to alternative proposals from rival political parties but said it was necessary Stick to the benchmark Set up a rescue plan.

He said Sri Lanka had made good progress but the country was not out of the woods yet.

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