Finance Ministers of the three creditor countries India, Japan and France will hold a press briefing in Washington today (13) to announce Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring negotiations process, the IMF has announced.
“Japan, India, and France on Thursday will hold a press briefing on the margins of the Spring meetings to announce the launch of the debt restructuring negotiations process on Sri Lanka,” the IMF said, quoting a Japanese Finance Ministry statement.
Japan, France and India will announce a new platform for creditors to coordinate restructuring of Sri Lanka’s debt, Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said.
He said it would be “very nice” if China were to join the effort, Reuters reported.
As chair of this year’s Group of Seven meeting, Japan has put efforts to address debt vulnerabilities of middle-income countries such as Sri Lanka as among priorities for debate.
The announcement of the new platform, initiated by Japan, France and G20 chair India, will be made today, Suzuki said in a news conference after the G7 finance leaders’ meeting.
The platform will likely consist of a series of meetings of the creditor nations to discuss the debt.
“We altogether made a great effort to set up the framework,” Suzuki said.
“I hope many countries will participate. It will be very nice if China will join,” Suzuki said.
Sri Lanka last month secured a $2.9 billion programme from the International Monetary Fund to tackle its suffocating debt burden and its worst economic crisis in more than seven decades.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka expects China to support its effort to restructure debts and help it begin repaying its obligations, according to the nation’s central bank governor.
The country also aims to quickly complete negotiations with official and commercial creditors, Nandalal Weerasinghe said.
He was giving an interview to Bloomberg Television in Washington, where he’s attending the IMF and World Bank’s Spring Meetings.
