Sri Lanka reached an agreement with the International Monetary Fund for an emergency loan of 3 billion dollars
According to IRNA on Wednesday, citing Reuters news agency, informed sources have announced that Sri Lanka has reached a preliminary agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on receiving an emergency loan and will officially announce the result tomorrow, Thursday. .
Reuters further added: The country, which according to observers is full of debt, is struggling with its worst economic crisis in more than seven decades and is therefore trying to get the International Monetary Fund to agree to receive three billion dollars. It is a loan. This country has been facing severe shortage of basic goods and rising prices for months.
Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe announced the finalization of negotiations with the International Monetary Fund while presenting the temporary budget for the remaining months of the year to the Parliament.
This country of 22 million entered into a deep political crisis last month with the escape of the former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa following a popular uprising due to a severe shortage of basic goods and very high prices.
Following the vacancy of the presidency, Wickremesinghe, who has previously held the position of prime minister 6 times and is also the head of the finance department, replaced Rajapaksa and has so far conducted several rounds of negotiations with the International Monetary Fund team. .
The country is also trying to plan to pay off nearly $29 billion in debt, and Japan is expected to lead talks with other major creditors, such as China. Sri Lanka also plans to soon begin negotiations with private sector creditors owed more than $19 billion.
With the start of the covid-19 pandemic, the tourism-based economy of this Asian country was disrupted and caused huge debts for it.
This situation was exacerbated especially after the increase in oil prices, tax cuts and the seven-month ban on the import of chemical fertilizers last year, and it caused widespread damage to the agricultural sector.