By: Staff Writer
Colombo (LNW): Despite the IMF unawareness of China’s pledge to ease Sri Lanka’s debt, the Chinese government has assured that it remains ready to work together with all relevant international financial institutions to jointly play a positive role in helping Sri Lanka ease its debt burden and achieve sustainable development.
Speaking during his regular press briefing on Tuesday (10), China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Wang Wenbin explained that as Sri Lanka’s friend and neighbor, China closely follows the difficulties and challenges faced by the island nation, adding that, “We have been doing what we can to assist in its economic and social development”.
Meanwhile the International Monetary Fund ( IMF) says that it has not yet been informed about any specific agreements that have been reached with Sri Lanka by creditor nations including China.
His comment was in response to the query raised to IMF spokesperson with regard to the reports that suggested that China had reached a tentative agreement with Sri Lanka.
Peter Breuer, Senior Mission Chief for Sri Lanka in a statement said, “We know discussions between Sri Lanka and all its creditors have been ongoing.
“We have not yet been informed about any specific agreements. We will need to assess the entire package of agreements in its totality to assess consistency with IMF debt targets”
The Export-Import Bank of China recently came to a preliminary agreement with Sri Lanka to address China-related debts, reported international media on Tuesday (11).
The announcement was made during a routine press meeting in Beijing, responding to queries about the aid Beijing is extending to Colombo.
He said China’s relevant financial institutions have been in close touch with Sri Lanka on the debt issue involving China since last year, and that they have engaged in active bilateral consultations and provided a financing support document to Sri Lanka in a timely manner to help it obtain loans from the IMF.
“Chinese financial institutions has taken part in all the creditors’ meetings as an observer and maintained friendly communication with other creditors to share with them the progress of the debt treatment”, Wenbin said, when asked how China has aided Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring process.
Commenting on the progress made pertaining to bilateral debt treatment, Wenbin reminded that in late September, as the official creditor, the Export-Import Bank of China tentatively agreed with Sri Lanka on the debt treatment.
“We are also glad to see that other creditors are having discussions with Sri Lanka as well over solutions to its debt issue”, he further commented.
Accordingly, he assured that they will support Chinese financial institutions in actively consulting with Sri Lanka.
“We are ready to work with relevant countries and international financial institutions to jointly play a positive role in helping Sri Lanka navigate the situation, ease its debt burden and achieve sustainable development.
We call on multilateral institutions and commercial creditors to take part in Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring based on fair burden-sharing”, he said in this regard.
