President says SL could wrap up debt restructure talks by Sept.-Nov.

Friday, 26 May 2023 03:31 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has expressed confidence in Sri Lanka concluding the newly-launched debt restructuring talks by September or November at the latest.

He made these remarks during a discussion with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo, yesterday.

Wickremesinghe stressed that the negotiations with creditors had made remarkable progress so far.

Sri Lanka secured a $ 2.9 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in March, but the country must set up a debt restructuring framework by September to carry forward the program or risk undermining a slow economic recovery.

In April, France, India and Japan unveiled a common platform for talks among bilateral creditors to co-ordinate restructuring of the debt.

Sri Lanka defaulted on its foreign debt for the first time in its history in April 2022, which led to the worst financial crisis since independence.

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