Bharatha Mallawarachi
Sri Lanka’s President Ranil Wickremesinghe announced a debt restructuring deal with countries including India, France, Japan, and China in a televised address to the nation Wednesday. The agreement marks a key step in the country’s economic recovery after defaulting on debt repayment in 2022.
Sri Lanka is under an International Monetary Fund bailout program and the debt treatment deal is expected to reopen the doors to bilateral transactions and the resumption of foreign projects that stalled when the island nation defaulted.
“This morning in Paris, Sri Lanka reached a final agreement with our official bilateral creditors. Similarly, we signed another agreement with China’s Exim Bank today in Beijing. … Sri Lanka won,” Wickremesinghe said.
Sri Lanka declared bankruptcy in April 2022 and suspended repayments on some $83 billion in domestic and foreign loans amid a severe foreign exchange crisis that led to a severe shortage of essentials such as food, medicine, fuel, and cooking gas, and hours-long power cuts.
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