Colombo (TIP): Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said on June 8 that he has urged IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva to “expedite” its assistance programme to Sri Lanka and underlined that no country except India was providing money to the crisis-hit island nation for fuel. The conversation between Wickremesinghe, who is also the Finance Minister, and the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund comes as Sri Lanka has decided to seek the assistance of the Washington-based global lender to combat the worst economic crisis since its independence from Britain in 1948. The talks between Sri Lanka and the IMF commenced on April 18.
Sri Lanka has already initiated measures to restructure its foreign debts — a prerequisite for an IMF programme — after the government suspended all the external debt repayments on April 12. In his address to Parliament, Wickremesinghe said he had a telephonic conversation with Georgieva on Tuesday during which she was informed of Sri Lanka’s need for bridging finance.
“I am doing my best to push forward this and get finance latest by September,” Wickremesinghe added. (PTI)