China underlines support for Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring, IMF push, as Prime Minister Gunawardena wraps up visit
- Pledge comes in joint statement issued as Lankan Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena wraps up five-day visit to China
- Beijing also willing to ‘play a positive role’ in the IMF ‘to assist Sri Lanka in financial relief’, statement says
Beijing was willing to “continue supporting its financial institutions to actively negotiate with Sri Lanka, maintain friendly communication with other creditors, and play a positive role in the International Monetary Fund to assist Sri Lanka in financial relief”, the statement said.
China is the largest bilateral creditor of Sri Lanka, which declared bankruptcy in 2022 and suspended repayments on some US$83 billion in local and foreign loans after it ran out of foreign reserves.
Debt restructuring was top of the agenda for Gunawardena’s visit to China, where he held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang in Beijing before travelling south to Hainan province to address the Boao Forum.
Colombo is working to maintain an IMF bailout of US$2.9 billion, extended on the condition of debt restructuring with foreign creditors and measures taken to develop the country’s economy.
