Sri Lankan president says talks with IMF are “very satisfactory”

Jul. 29 () –

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe has assured Friday that talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to secure a crucial aid loan to the country are on the right track but a plan for national debt sustainability needs to be presented.

This plan was disrupted, according to the current president, both by the policies of the previous government and by the popular revolution earlier this month in the Asian country, which forced the resignation of the government and the departure from power of the clan of former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The president has assured the IMF that the country enjoys a government “with political stability” which he hopes will translate into the successful completion of negotiations for the declaration of a government of concentration, with the presence of all parties, before the next elections.

“The position of this government is that we can successfully conclude negotiations with the IMF and take the first steps to achieve financial stability,” added the presidential statement, reported by the Ceylonese portal News Wire.

The nation needs around $6 billion in assistance from the IMF and countries such as India and China to get through the next six months, Wickremesinghe said this year, when he was serving as prime minister.

Sri Lanka has suspended payment of foreign debts worth about $7 billion due this year because its foreign exchange levels fell to record lows. The country’s total external debt is $51 billion, of which $28 billion is due by 2027, an average payment of about $5 billion a year.