(NewsRadio); Minister of Finance of Japan Shunichi Suzuki has announced that Japan, France and India will announce a new platform for creditors to coordinate restructuring of Sri Lanka’s debt.
Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki today also said it would be “very nice” if China were to join the effort made by several nations to restructure Sri Lanka’s debt.
As chair of this year’s Group of Seven (G7) meeting, Japan has put efforts to address debt vulnerabilities of middle-income countries such as Sri Lanka as among priorities for debate.
The announcement of the new platform, initiated by Japan, France and G20 chair India, will be made later today.
The platform will likely consist of a series of meetings of the creditor nations to discuss the debt.
During a news conference after the G7 finance leaders’ meeting, Minister Suzuki said, “We altogether made a great effort to set up the framework. I hope many countries will participate. It will be very nice if China will join.”
The International Monetary Fund yesterday announced that Japan, India and France are scheduled to announce the launch of the debt restructuring negotiation process on Sri Lanka.
A special media briefing will be held later today with the participation of Finance Ministers of the three countries Shunichi Suzuki, Nirmala Sitharaman and Bruno Le Maire.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe and State Minister of Finance Shehan Semasinghe are expected to join the live streaming of the press briefing.
The three creditor countries have been working closely for a coordinated debt restructuring process for Sri Lanka.
Additionally, the IMF, World Bank and other international organizations as well as the private sector will participate in the debt restructuring discussions.
Sri Lanka last month secured a USD 2.9 billion programme from the International Monetary Fund to tackle the worst economic crisis in more than seven decades.
Following the IMF approval, Sri Lanka has been in talks with creditor nations and other debtors to restructure the debt and stabilize the economy.
With inputs from Reuters
