Sri Lanka's central bank urges China and India to reduce its debts

Sri Lanka's central bank has urged China and India to agree a write-down of their loans as soon as possible. The crisis-hit Indian Ocean state defaulted on its debt repayments and negotiated a $2.9bn (£2.4bn) bailout. But the International Monetary Fund will not release the cash until China and India first agree to reduce Sri Lanka's billions of dollars of debt.

The governor of Sri Lanka's central bank told BBC Newsnight it was in the interest of all parties to act quickly. P. Nandalal Weerasinghe said: "The sooner they give us finance assurances that would be better for both [sides], as a creditor, as a debtor." "That will help us to start repaying their obligations," he added.
"We don't want to be in this kind of situation, not meeting the obligations, for too long. That is not good for the country and for us. That's not good for investor confidence in Sri Lanka."

Read more

Sri Lanka: Why is the country in an economic crisis?