{"id":125846,"date":"2022-06-01T15:56:02","date_gmt":"2022-06-01T22:56:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=125846"},"modified":"2022-06-01T15:56:02","modified_gmt":"2022-06-01T22:56:02","slug":"sri-lanka-in-talks-with-imf-to-borrow-at-least-3b-sources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2022\/06\/01\/sri-lanka-in-talks-with-imf-to-borrow-at-least-3b-sources\/","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka in talks with IMF to borrow at least $3b: sources"},"content":{"rendered":"

Courtesy The NewArab<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Sri Lanka is seeking to overcome its worst economic crisis since independence in 1948.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A $3 billion deal would represent almost four times Sri Lanka’s quota with the IMF [STEFANI REYNOLDS\/AFP\/Getty-file photo]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka<\/a> is in talks with the International Monetary Fund<\/a> (IMF) to borrow at least $3 billion via the lender’s extended fund facility (EFF), sources familiar with the matter told Reuters<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The island state’s government expects another round of technical talks with the IMF<\/a> in early June and hopes to reach to a staff-level agreement as soon as the end of this month, two of the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spokesperson for the IMF didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment. Spokespeople for Sri Lanka’s finance ministry and central bank didn’t respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka has requested a rescue plan to overcome its worst economic crisis since independence in 1948.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It defaulted on some overseas debt earlier this year and is struggling to pay for imports of basics such as fuel and medicine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An EFF programme, which would be the 17th IMF plan for the nation, requires countries to make structural economic reforms “to correct deep-rooted weaknesses,” according to the IMF’s website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RELATED<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka: PM promises swift economic reform plan<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

World<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The New Arab Staff & Agencies<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These programmes normally last three years with a grace period of four-and-a-half years to start paying back the loan, once the plan is approved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A $3 billion deal would represent almost four times the country’s quota with the IMF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The IMF said last week it was in talks with Sri Lanka for a “comprehensive” reform package, but didn’t specify what type of programme was being negotiated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who took office in May after mass protests forced the resignation of his predecessor, Mahinda Rajapaksa<\/a>, plans to present an interim budget within weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government announced on Tuesday a taxation overhaul to boost revenue, hiking corporate tax and raising the value added tax rate to 12 percent from 8 percent with immediate effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka recently appointed financial and legal advisers to kick off talks with bondholders and bilateral lenders, such as China and Japan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Courtesy The NewArab Sri Lanka is seeking to overcome its worst economic crisis since independence in 1948. A $3 billion deal would represent almost four times Sri Lanka’s quota with the IMF [STEFANI REYNOLDS\/AFP\/Getty-file photo] Sri Lanka is in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to borrow at least $3 billion via the lender’s extended fund facility […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125846\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}