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Economics

Sri Lanka IMF Deal Stalls Amid China-World Bank Relief Split

  • India, Paris Club gave support to debt plan required by IMF
  • Without official assurance from China, IMF bailout may stall
The East Container Terminal, in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

The East Container Terminal, in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Photographer: Jonathan Wijayaratne/Bloomberg
By
Anusha Ondaatjie, Philip Glamann and Tom Hancock
Updated on

China said it wanted multilateral lenders to provide debt relief to Sri Lanka as part of a broader restructuring of loans, a demand at odds with other major creditors and likely to slow a pact to unlock International Monetary Fund aid.

China has offered debt extensions for the island nation and calls “on all other creditors of Sri Lanka, especially multilateral creditors, to take synchronized, similar steps,” Mao Ning, a foreign ministry spokeswoman, said in a briefing Friday.