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colombo [Sri Lanka]Feb 9 (ANI): China reiterated last week that debt relief to Sri Lanka still falls short of the country’s overall burden, according to analysts, Sri Lanka’s Daily Financial Times reported.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning reiterated the Jan. 19 statement by the Export-Import Bank of China at a regular briefing on Friday.
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The Export-Import Bank of China, as the official bilateral creditor, provided financing support documents to Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Finance, Economic Stability and National Policy, saying it would provide extensions to Sri Lanka’s debt maturing in 2022 and 2023.
According to the “Daily Financial Times” report, this means that Sri Lanka does not need to repay the principal and interest of the Export-Import Bank loan during this period, “helping to ease Sri Lanka’s short-term debt repayment pressure.”
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The World Bank said it would support Sri Lanka’s application for a loan from the International Monetary Fund.
According to the Daily Financial Times, experts and analysts believe that the outstanding debt of the Export-Import Bank is only US$4.023 billion, while Sri Lanka still owes China US$3 billion, including US$2.95 billion from the China Development Bank (CDB). .
Analysts believe that “ideally, if China wants to fulfill its commitment to Sri Lanka, it should give broader support in debt relief.”
Others argue that Sri Lanka will have to deal with CDB alone because it is classified as a “commercial” creditor.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Ning said on Friday that China was the first official bilateral creditor to voluntarily announce a debt extension to Sri Lanka. “This demonstrates China’s sincerity and actions in supporting Sri Lanka’s efforts to achieve debt sustainability,” she added.
The Dailt Mirror recently reported that China’s offer to Sri Lanka to suspend its debt for two years was not enough to clear the way for the International Monetary Fund to allow a financing scheme.
The news report quoted sources as saying that the IMF needs more assurances from China to ensure that the IMF board approves the bailout plan for Sri Lanka. Earlier, China’s foreign ministry said the Export-Import Bank of China (EXIM) had provided debt to Sri Lanka. (Arnie)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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