India's response to Sri Lanka's request for debt restructuring expected by January end, says Wickremesinghe

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has said that Indias response to cashstrapped Sri Lankas request for debt restructuring is expected by the end of this JanuarySri Lanka which is trying to secure a USD 29 billion bridge loan from the International Monetary Fund IMF has been trying to to get financial assurances from its major creditors China Japan and India which is the requisite for Colombo to get the bailout packageTalking to the media Wickremesinghe on Friday also said that he is hopeful of obtaining the USD 29 billion IMF facility in the first quarter of this year Sri Lanka had begun debt restructuring talks with its creditors since September last year as warranted by its agreement with the IMF for the USD 29 billion facility over four yearsThe cashstrapped country began negotiating with the IMF for a bailout after having announced its firstever sovereign debt default in April last yearWickremesinghe had earlier said that India and Sri Lanka held successful talks on debt restructuring and the country will also begin discussions with ChinaThe IMF bailout has been put on a halt as Sri Lanka pursues talks with creditors to meet the global lenders condition for the facilityWickremesinghe said Sri Lanka was only looking from China to extend the period of repayment of Chinese loans over a period of 20 years and Sri Lanka did not ask China to slash its debtAlso read Sri Lankas ousted president Gotabaya applies for US citizenship restorationSri Lanka was hit by an unprecedented financial crisis in 2022 due to a severe paucity of foreign exchange reserves that also sparked political turmoil in the country which led to the ouster of the allpowerful Rajapaksa familyThe IMF facility would enable the island nation to obtain bridging finance from markets and other lending institutions such as the ADB and the World BankReferring to his tough economic measures such as tax increases Wickremesinghe said such measures would help stabilise the economy although it would provide people hardshipsWickremesinghe was intent on selling the stateowned enterprises to boost reserves The government had already made clear its plans to privatise Sri Lanka Telecom and Sri Lankan AirlinesIndian credit lines from the beginning of 2022 assisted imports of fuel and assistanceThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever