LONDON (Reuters): The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is planning a staff-level mission in the coming weeks to Sri Lanka “to engage on policy discussions on a program,” the Fund’s Spokesman Gerry Rice said on Thursday in Washington.

The goal of the next mission will be to build on the technical discussions already held with Sri Lanka’s authorities in May.

“The timing of a staff level agreement will depend in part on the strength of the policies that the authorities would promote,” Rice added during the fund’s regular media briefing.

The nation-island is in talks with the IMF for a loan package to help navigate its worst economic crisis in seven decades. Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe requested on Wednesday to send a staff-level delegation to the crisis-hit country as soon as possible.

PM updates media owners about efforts to resolve economic crisis