Japan calls for creditor nations’ talks on Sri Lanka debt restructuring

Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki attends the G20 Finance Ministers Meeting in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia July 16, 2022. Sonny Tumbelaka/Pool via REUTERS/File photo

TOKYO  – Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki on Friday urged all creditor nations to discuss Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring, after the crisis-hit South Asian nation reached a loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund.

“It’s important for all creditor nations, including China and India, to gather to discuss Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring,” Suzuki told a news conference.

Sri Lanka has reached a preliminary agreement with the IMF for a loan of about $2.9 billion, the global lender said on Thursday, as the country seeks a way out of its worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1948.