Sri Lanka asks IMF for urgent support

Sri Lanka has asked the International Monetary Organization (IMF) for emergency financial assistance and the agency is in the process of considering the request, a person close to the country’s Finance Minister shared on 19. /4.

The protest movement has spread continuously in the past days in the context of Sri Lanka’s worst financial crisis since independence, stemming from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, how to government misbehavior and rising global commodity and fuel prices.

A delegation led by Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister Ali Sabry held talks with the IMF in Washington on April 18 to develop a program to help the country improve its foreign exchange reserves and receive loans. bridging for the purpose of paying the cost of importing fuel, food and pharmaceuticals.

A man pushes his car that ran out of gas in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Photo: Reuters.

“The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka requested the IMF to support a loan through the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI). Initially, the IMF was a bit hesitant when Sri Lanka did not meet the requirements set forth,” Shamir Zavahir, Sabry assistant minister wrote on Twitter.

“However, India has proposed on behalf of Sri Lanka a loan option through RFI, and the IMF will carefully consider this proposal as this is a very special case,” he wrote.

Sri Lanka is seeking up to $3 billion in financial support over the next few months from several sources such as the IMF, World Bank and India, to defuse the crisis, Minister Sabry told Reuters earlier. month.

Last week, the country’s central bank said it was delaying payments on some foreign debt and would soon conduct debt restructuring.

In the city of Colombo, protests demanding the removal of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa have broken out continuously for more than a week now.

On April 19, at the National Assembly, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa called on the government to unite to bring the country through the crisis, but the opposition voiced opposition.

“The fact that people have to wait in long lines to buy goods and endure constant power outages is beyond any government’s desire,” the prime minister said.

“We have called for help and received many positive responses from the World Bank and a number of trusted countries. We will not let this go on for too long,” he said.

According to Trong Dai