- Saudi crown prince says no Israel ties without Palestinian state
- Canada to further cut international student, foreign worker permits
- YouTube launches new TV-focused tools for creators
- White Sox heading for worst season in MLB history
- China the top challenge in US history: senior diplomat
- Hong Kong democracy tycoon's son warns time running out
- New migraine drugs no better than cheap painkillers: big study
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs again denied bail in sex trafficking case
- Brewers clinch division title as MLB playoff race heats up
- Man City blunted by 'giant' Inter in Champions League stalemate
- US stocks dip despite larger Fed interest rate cut
- Man City held by Inter as PSG pinch win in Champions League
- All Blacks recall Beauden Barrett for Australia Test
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 20, wound 450
- Spurs late show saves Postecoglou blushes at Coventry
- PSG snatch late goal to beat Champions League debutants Girona
- Gittens' late double gives Dortmund Champions League win at Brugge
- Man City blunted by Inter in Champions League stalemate
- Hidden talent: French Olympic star Marchand opts for disguise
- MrBeast named in California lawsuit over 'Beast Games' show
- Gauff splits with Gilbert as coach after 14-month run
- Hundreds of thousands at risk in Sudan's El-Fasher: UN
- Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to new sex crime charge
- Venezuelan opposition candidate says letter conceding election was coerced
- Ukraine official claims Russian advance in Kursk has been 'stopped'
- X update allows app to bypass Brazil ban: internet providers
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 14, wound 450
- US Fed makes aggressive rate cut, weeks before election
- Arsenal's Odegaard faces lengthy injury absence
- India coal expansion risks massive methane growth: report
- China the top challenge in US history, top diplomat says
- US Fed makes larger half-point cut in first reduction since 2020
- Ronaldo's Al Nassr appoint former AC Milan boss Pioli
- Ainslie 'relieved' as British book place in Louis Vuitton Cup final
- Struggling Roma replace sacked icon De Rossi with Ivan Juric
- Women's NBA will add 15th team in Portland in 2026
- Brazil fires need harsher punishment: environmental police boss
- Boeing to start large temporary furloughs amid Seattle strike
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill nine, wound 300
- 'Emergency' declared over falling UK butterfly numbers
- McIlroy outlines threats to golf peace deal
- Stock markets, dollar slip before US rate decision
- Russian advance in Kursk 'stopped': Ukraine official to AFP
- UN members demand end to 'unlawful' Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories
- Snapchat pushes 'safer' platform image, but not everyone agrees
- Three dead, 100 wounded in new wave of Lebanon device explosions
- So where does the oceans' plastic waste come from?
- Allied war heroes buried in Netherlands... 80 years on
- Marsh coy over Australia's choice to open alongside Head
- New London sculpture pays tribute to trans community
RBGPF | 5.79% | 60.5 | $ | |
JRI | 0.45% | 13.44 | $ | |
BCC | 1.33% | 137.06 | $ | |
BCE | 3.09% | 35.61 | $ | |
CMSC | 0.02% | 25.055 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.12% | 24.98 | $ | |
NGG | -0.46% | 70.05 | $ | |
SCS | 0.71% | 14.11 | $ | |
RELX | -0.82% | 47.37 | $ | |
RYCEF | 1.37% | 6.55 | $ | |
RIO | -0.02% | 62.91 | $ | |
VOD | 0.49% | 10.23 | $ | |
GSK | -0.31% | 42.43 | $ | |
AZN | 0.06% | 78.58 | $ | |
BP | -0.37% | 32.43 | $ | |
BTI | -0.34% | 37.88 | $ |
Sri Lanka seeks IMF advice amid worsening crisis
Sri Lanka has asked for "advice" from the International Monetary Fund amid a worsening economic crisis, the finance minister said Wednesday, signalling Colombo could seek an international bailout.
The island's tourism sector and worker remittances, the government's main sources of income, have been battered by the pandemic.
Colombo imposed a broad import ban to try to save foreign currency, and the island nation of 22 million has since seen shortages of food and fuel as well as electricity rationing, while rating agencies warn it might not be able to make payments on its $35 billion foreign debt.
Finance minister Basil Rajapaksa said Colombo wrote to the IMF seeking technical support to manage the economic crisis.
An IMF team will arrive in Sri Lanka "in the next few days and advise us on how to deal with the situation", Rajapaksa said at a public ceremony in the capital.
"I can't say whether we will accept their advice or not, but they will tell us what we don't know," he added.
And he signalled that the government could seek a bailout from the Washington-based institution.
Local and international financial experts have called for the Sri Lankan government to do so -- a move that could force it to undertake painful reforms.
"We need to find out what their conditions are," said Rajapaksa, the younger brother of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. "Even when we try to get a housing loan, we first find out the conditions of the bank."
The Sri Lankan cabinet is divided on going to the IMF, while the central bank is opposed to getting IMF aid, saying its conditions may be more painful for the struggling economy.
The bank has said that the IMF could demand a sharp depreciation of the local currency that could raise domestic prices. Inflation is already high and hit a record 14.2 percent last month with food inflation reaching 25 percent.
Financial analysts believe that under any IMF programme Colombo will have to make painful adjustments and raise interest rates and taxes, while cutting government spending.
Sri Lanka's foreign reserves were at $7.5 billion when Rajapaksa came to power in November 2019 and dropped to $3.1 billion by the end of 2021 despite a two-year ban on a wide range of imports.
Hard pressed for dollars to import fuel, Sri Lanka on Wednesday secured a $500 million credit line from New Delhi to import urgently needed oil from India.
Sri Lanka has also asked Beijing for more loans to repay already existing Chinese loans which account for over 10 percent of the island's official external debt.
C.Meier--BTB