ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON: Pakis­tan has been unable to secure a place on the schedule of the Inter­national Monetary Fund’s (IMF) executive board, at least until mid-December, for the approval of the staff-level agreement (SLA) and disbursement of $700 million.

Informed sources said the Ministry of Finance had been trying its best to seek a date in the first week of December to ensure approval of SLA with Pakistan for the first review of the $3bn Standby Arrangement (SBA).

They said authorities were pushing at all levels, initially for December 7, and later for a date any time before the Christmas holidays, for the executive board to take up Pakistan’s case before the year-end.

However, this does not seems like a possibility, at least till December 14. The executive board members would not be available in the last week of December and the first week of January because of Christmas and New Year holidays.

The finance ministry did not respond On Monday, the IMF updated the schedule of its executive board meetings. Excluding Kyrgyzstan’s case on Monday, there are about 12 countries whose cases, both Article-IV consultations and programme reviews, are on the executive board agenda until December 14.

The countries are Armenia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Benin, Cabo Verde, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Moldova, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia, and Sri Lanka.

These meetings encompass various aspects, including Article IV consultations on economic developments and policies of member states. The board also reviews IMF assistance packages, such as the extended fund facility (EFF) it signed with Pakistan.

Normally, the IMF board of executive directors takes about a fortnight after the staff-level agreement for approval, unless there are some outstanding prior actions.

In Pakistan’s case, no prior action is outstanding for the first quarterly review. The IMF staff and the Pakistani authorities had reached a staff-level agreement on the first review on November 15 in Islamabad.

This meant for Pakistan to have access to SDR 528 million (around US$700 million) and its approval would bring total disbursements under the nine-month $3bn SBA signed in July this year to almost $1.9bn.

This was after a long time that a quarterly review with the fund remained smooth and culminated in the immediate announcement of an SLA as most of the quantitative targets had been complied with.

In conclusion, the IMF mission had called upon the authorities to return to the market-determined exchange rate and had highlighted risks that may arise because of geopolitical tensions, rise in commodity prices and difficult global financial conditions and advised the authorities to continue efforts to build resilience.

It also pointed out that timely disbursement of committed external support remains critical to support the authorities’ policy and reform efforts as the government was accelerating engagement with multilateral and official bilateral partners. Saudi Arabia had since rolled over a $3bn deposit well before maturity.

Source: Dawn News

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When Ranil Wickremesinghe took over as Sri Lanka’s president in July after a popular uprising ousted his predecessor, the South Asian island nation was engulfed in its worst economic meltdown in 75 years.

Since then, President Wickremesinghe has managed to a keep a lid on mass protests, improve supplies of essentials and on Monday, secured a nearly $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that opens the door to restructuring about $58 billion of debt and receive funding from other lenders.

On March 20, the IMF approved a $3 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) to support Sri Lanka amid its economic crisis. The approval is expected to pave the way for other financial institutions to extend support to the bankrupt South Asian country.

He has done that despite a deeply unpopular government, his own party commanding just one seat in the 225-member parliament and having to rely for support on the party of the man he replaced.

Hours-long power cuts and queues for fuel that led to the downfall of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa are gone, thanks partly to a fuel rationing system. Tourists are returning, remittances are recovering and foreign exchange reserves are rising, though the economy is still contracting. But due largely to significant hikes in income taxes and power tariffs that were needed to get the IMF on board, the government of the 73-year-old is no favourite of the people. According to a “Mood of the Nation” poll run in February by private think-tank Verité Research, the government’s approval rating was 10%, the same as in October but higher than an all-time low of 3% in June, when Rajapaksa was in power. Only 4% were satisfied with the way things were going in Sri Lanka, down from 7% in October but higher than 2% in June.

There are no known approval ratings for Wickremesinghe as president. “He’s ready to face the people’s anger in the short term, to ensure long-term stability and growth in the country,” said Dinouk Colombage, Wickremesinghe’s director of international affairs. “Even though the president only has one seat in parliament, him carrying forward his agenda, bringing forth the reforms, once the results start showing, I think the people will come out in open support of him.”

Born into a prominent family of politicians and business-people with large interests in the media, the lawyer and six-time prime minister has little support beyond wealthy urban voters. His ability to make policy depends to a great extent on the support of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna party, largely controlled by the Rajapaksa family.

For now, Wickremesinghe is enjoying that support, and he said on Sunday that his country was on the right track There’s fuel now, there’s electricity, there’s fertiliser and by April, there will be enough rice and other foodstuff,” he said at an event in Colombo. “We will no longer be declared a bankrupt nation, but a nation that can restructure its debts.”

The bailout is expected to catalyse additional external support, with funding expected from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank to the tune of $3.75 billion, the IMF said in a statement.

In recent months, Wickremesinghe successfully negotiated economic support from top lenders China, India and Japan, culminating in the IMF bailout. He flew to Japan in October to apologise for the cancellation of Japanese-funded projects under Rajapaksa, which convinced Tokyo to back Sri Lanka’s request for the IMF bailout.

The Paris Club of creditors, which includes Japan, earlier this year gave financing assurances to support the IMF deal. A Japan-funded $1.8 billion light-railway project, which was suspended in 2019, is among infrastructure projects that Sri Lanka is now trying to restart.

But Sri Lanka still needs to renegotiate its debt, a potentially drawn-out process where Wickremesinghe, who is also the finance minister, will have to deal with demands from China, India and other creditors. He still has to turn around the economy, which shrank 7.8% in 2022 and is expected to contract by 3% this year.

Implementing further reforms under the IMF programme, reducing record-high interest rates and controlling inflation will also continue to pose challenges for Wickremesinghe, who has faced trade union strikes after the tax and power hikes.

Critics say Wickremesinghe’s economy-first approach ignores political and systemic reforms – like stronger anti-corruption measures and more transparency in government decision-making – as demanded by mass protesters who banded together as the “Aragalaya” movement last year.

“One year on, there is no real structural change in governance or system change,” said Bhavani Fonseka, senior researcher at Colombo-based Centre for Policy Alternatives. “The president does take this line that his priority is addressing the economy over everything else, but you can’t have that silo-ed approach and think people are going to be okay with it.”

A crisis-weary public may still have to absorb years of continuing hardship as Sri Lanka tries to fix its economy during the four-year IMF programme, warned Jayadeva Uyangoda, a senior political analyst. “Wickremesinghe has managed to neutralise the Aragalaya and that was a major success, but the economic and social crisis goes on,” he said.

“Economic stability will take at least another couple of years.”

Source : Reuters

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Brussels (08/11 – 50)

On March 20, the IMF approved a $3 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) to support Sri Lanka amid its economic crisis. The approval is expected to pave the way for other financial institutions to extend support to the bankrupt South Asian country. IMF program was made possible largely due to the untiring efforts of the President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The IMF links financial assistance to a country to policy reform, a conditionality that usually imposes political as well as economic changes in the recipient nation. The logic behind IMF conditionality is multifold. It is supposed to prevent moral hazard by governments that receive loans. These conditions allow the IMF to monitor the behavior of the recipient states and allegedly promote best practices and good governance.

Sri Lanka has been to the IMF 16 times before; five of these since 2000. The full amount of the IMF loan was not disbursed on six occasions because Sri Lanka did not fully comply with the conditions of the loans. This included the previous EFF in 2016, when the conditions imposed by the IMF built additional pressure on the domestic economy. There has been much skepticism about Sri Lanka adhering to the more stringent IMF conditions this time around.

Despite the skepticism that prevails among journalists and economists, the IMF is very happy about the progress Sri Lanka is making on the commitments it made as a part of the IMF’s four-year EFF to the country.

An IMF delegation, which was in Colombo recently to assess the progress of the agreement, is optimistic. IMF Director of Asia and Pacific Department Krishna Srinivasan told a press conference in Colombo on May 15 that the Sri Lankan government has shown “commitment to the reform effort” that is a part of the agreement with the IMF.  He added that the “authorities are making good faith efforts to negotiate with all the creditors, both private creditors and official creditors.”

Ranil Wickremesinghe took over as President of Sri Lanka in July 2022 when the country was in the middle of its worst economic and political crisis since independence in 1948. On March 20, 2023, the IMF approved a $3 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) to support Sri Lanka amid its economic crisis.

Peter Breuer, IMF’s Senior Mission Chief for Sri Lanka, Asia, and Pacific Department said they “see things developing more or less in line with expectations.”

Srinivasan added that Sri Lanka had to complete a number of prior actions before the IMF approved its bailout package. These actions were extensive and required a significant commitment from the Sri Lankan government.

Among these are cost-reflective of a number of goods and services that the government had subsidized for decades.  Sarwat Jahan, the IMF Resident Representative in Sri Lanka said the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) and Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) would have to recover their costs until the end of the IMF program.

The government met all these requirements, which shows that they are serious about implementing the reforms necessary to address the country’s economic crisis, Srinivasan said.

The conditions attached to IMF loans often involve actions aimed at discontinuing industry subsidies, avoiding exchange rate manipulation, adjusting budget priorities, and regulating wage levels. Leaders, who face diverse political limitations, differ in their willingness to engage in an agreement with the IMF and make compromises in these four areas.

Considering that IMF loan conditionality agreements usually involve implementing fiscal austerity measures, leaders with larger winning coalitions will encounter more challenges when attempting to negotiate an agreement for IMF financing.

On the other hand, when a regime maintains power through a narrower network of closely-connected supporters, he or she finds it easier to enter into an agreement with the IMF.

Miles Kahler, a senior fellow for global governance at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, DC, in his 1993 book chapter titled “Bargaining with the IMF: Two-Level Strategies and Developing Countries,” outlines two key aspects of domestic politics that influence the process of loan negotiations: firstly, the degree to which a technocratic elite is insulated from economic interests, and secondly, the frequency with which elites face political challenges like elections.

Another factor that can impede the formation of a loan agreement is the presence of multiple veto actors, such as a separation of powers or the existence of multiparty governing coalitions.

Kahler says that when a country has a higher number of veto actors capable of obstructing a loan agreement, the scope of domestic political consensus becomes narrower, resulting in increased negotiation costs for the IMF. Typically, the count of veto actors is determined by assessing the number of parties in a government coalition in countries where genuine political competition exists.

This explains why it was extremely difficult for former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who came into power through a coalition of populism and with the support of a number of interest groups, from big businesses to professional associations, to enter into negotiations with the IMF.

On the other hand, Wickremesinghe is the head of the United National Party, a political party that obtained around 250,000 votes from 15 million eligible voters. He has one MP in Parliament, Wajira Abeywardana, who is a staunch loyalist. Wickremesinghe is backed in parliament by the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), whose MPs depend on him for political survival and would vote for any legislation that he brings forth.

Sri Lankan legislators are entitled to several perks at the end of the full tenure of five years and most of the SLPP MPs that back Wickremesinghe are adamant on completing their terms. Wickremesinghe has also indicated that there will be no elections until the economy is stabilized and it is likely that the first election Sri Lankans will see is a presidential election, probably in 2024.

Therefore, Wickremesinghe can implement the IMF recommendations completely, as he is not answerable to any political coalition or interest groups. Neither does he face an election. Wickremesinghe’s personal ideology also aligns with that of the IMF. It is unlikely that these factors were ignored by the IMF when the loan was approved and when they evaluate whether Sri Lanka will adhere to IMF conditionalities.

Source

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Sri Lanka is still dealing with the aftermath of its most devastating economic crisis since independence, a government without popular support and intensifying geopolitical competition in its neighborhood, a year after the Sri Lanka’s massive unrest. Known as the Aragalaya protests which were spurred by the economic crisis, the protests led to mass resignations across the government with former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fleeing the country in July 2022.

In the year since, the country has secured an IMF agreement, and its economy has ambled toward a slow path of recovery. However, there have still been concerns on the human rights front as the current government of Ranil Wickremesinghe has clamped down on further protests and continually postponed elections.

Sri Lanka’s economy appears to be making a slow and steady recovery, but its governance challenges must be addressed to sustain the momentum. Its domestic politics, economics and foreign relations have evolved one year after the country-wide protests.

The government of Wickremesinghe, who was elected president by the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), the party of the once politically dominant Rajapaksa family, is engaged in sustained efforts to enact repressive laws that stifle dissent and curtail the freedoms of media and civil society. Since parliamentary elections have not been held in the aftermath of the political crisis the current government is the same as the one headed by Gotabaya, the only difference is that Wickremesinghe is the president. Although the conditions of the IMF bailout package have pushed the government to propose some reforms, such as a new anti-corruption law, the lack of political will makes it unlikely that these initiatives will precipitate change in government behavior. Particularly since those in Parliament are the very same people who were part of the Gotabaya Rajapaksa regime and responsible for the multi-dimensional crisis with which Sri Lanka is still grappling. These parliamentarians have been reportedly demanding ministerial portfolios from Wickremesinghe to continue their support to him, thereby demonstrating the ongoing corrupt political culture and lack of accountability.

The military continues to acquire land in the north and east to expand military camps. Security agencies and the military have continued their surveillance, intimidation and harassment of civil society organizations, the media, families of the disappeared, former combatants and Tamil political and civic activity in conflict-affected areas. The draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act, which does not adhere to international human rights standards and the implementation of which has resulted in human rights violations, is still on the statute books. As part of the Sinhalization of the north and east, which has rapidly escalated, Hindu temples are being destroyed and in their place Buddhist temples being built.

There has also been no progress in holding perpetrators of human rights violations related to the war accountable. Nor has there been any attempt to provide a political solution to the ethnic conflict or undertake substantive constitutional reform. Instead, to avoid being subject to the scrutiny of the U.N. Human Rights Council, the government is proposing the establishment of the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission, its version of the truth-seeking mechanism, while hundreds of recommendations of similar previous commissions remain unimplemented. 

The 2022 protests did ignite increased public discourse on issues of public interest and demands for accountability, at least on certain issues, such as how public funds are spent and corruption. Yet, the decades-long rights struggle of communities, such as the Tamils, which have challenged the state and particularly the Rajapaksas, was largely absent in the narrative and the consciousness of the protesters.

Increased political awareness among the southern public has the potential to be the beginning of the acknowledgment of historical discrimination and repression, which should ideally result in the south heeding and addressing calls for truth, justice and equal citizenship. Such realization can lead to a pluralistic and diverse Sri Lanka where one would not have to divest one’s ethnic or religious identity to be Sri Lankan.

Hence, legal reforms alone will not change the way Sri Lanka’s institutions and politicians behave and perform. To ensure that the momentum generated in 2022 for accountability from elected representatives evolves into sustained challenges to entrenched systems of discrimination and corruption, the root causes of Sri Lanka’s crises and the multiple elephants in the room must be addressed.

Sri Lanka defaulted on its international debt a year ago, after facing unprecedented inflation and a balance of payments crisis. In sight of securing a new IMF program, Sri Lanka’s relationship with New Delhi has grown considerably stronger along economic and diplomatic lines, while their already close defense ties are largely unchanged. By contrast, China’s response has been highly disappointing to Sri Lanka, which continues to wait on Beijing’s full cooperation in debt restructuring.

India’s economic support to Sri Lanka predates the 2022 crisis. In 2020, New Delhi agreed to a $400 million currency swap under the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) framework. For more than a year, India was reportedly silent on whether it would approve Sri Lanka’s requests for an additional $1.1 billion currency swap and a moratorium on bilateral debt. Since early 2022, however, India’s support for Sri Lanka has been unprecedented. New Delhi perhaps realized the trendline of the impacts to the south was increasingly linked to its own economic and security interests and the credibility of its “neighborhood first” diplomacy.

The nature of support has been mostly lines of credit, currency swaps and deferred repayments. In January 2022, India provided another currency swap of $400 million under the SAARC framework. It also deferred settlement of $2 billion in Sri Lanka’s Asian Clearing Union trade credits, which are mostly for imports from India. In February 2022, it offered a line of credit worth $500 million for importing fuel from India, and the following month it provided a credit facility of $1 billion to buy food and medicine from India and further aid worth roughly $72 million. No less significantly, in January 2023, New Delhi provided the first assurances to the International Monetary Fund to enable the latter’s $2.9 billion package. Recently, India extended its $1 billion credit line for another year and appears likely to offer Sri Lanka a 12-year term to repay its debts. Later this month, President Wickremesinghe will make his first visit to India since entering office.

Beyond economic and diplomatic ties, India continues to be Sri Lanka’s primary defense partner. In the past year, the Sri Lanka Air Force has received a Dornier maritime surveillance aircraft from India, while the two countries held their annual defense dialogue in February and the Sri Lanka-India naval exercise, SLINEX, in April.

In contrast, China has been mostly uncooperative despite being Sri Lanka’s largest bilateral lender. Earlier, it had offered a currency swap worth $1.5 billion that was subsequently criticized because Sri Lanka could not benefit from its stringent terms. It also offered another $500 million loan with interest in 2021. Most importantly, China’s reluctance to actively participate in the debt-restructuring process with other lenders has cemented deeply held concerns about its transactional approach to Sri Lanka and other growing economies. Earlier this year, China finally agreed to a moratorium on debt servicing to Sri Lanka for only two years. But questions remain about whether Beijing will deliver on its assurances about debt restructuring.

Nevertheless, Sri Lankan officials representing their smaller state cannot afford to criticize China. Instead, officials emphasize their hope that Beijing will cooperate on the debt crisis and in other areas of the relationship. Wickremesinghe is expected to visit China in October to seek foreign direct investment in several projects, including for a potential $4 billion oil refinery in Hambantota.

Source: USIP

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Thank you very much Dominique for the kind introduction.

Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening to those who are online. And happy 25^th anniversary to 25^th anniversary to the Singapore Regional Training Institute (STI)!!

I am very pleased to join Ravi Menon whom I highly respect and value for the leadership he provides to a fast-changing world of money. And I can say the fact that you were in that picture [of 25 years ago] does not surprise me because when it comes down to innovation – doing something that has not been done before – he is the man!

I am also grateful to Ogata San for joining us and to Governor Chea, because now we have a gender balanced panel as a result. This also speaks for the transformation that has happened in the IMF over the last decades, where we see gender equality in action!

I am making this point because I firmly believe that no country can succeed without tapping into the talent of all its people – men and women. It also symbolizes how much the IMF has changed as the world around has changed as well.

We have here an institution that is 25 years young. It is a reflection of how the IMF is changing – by turning more toward its members and seeking ways in which we are better integrated in the countries we serve. We have increased the number of regional capacity development centers to 17, and we recently inaugurated the center in Almaty Kazakhstan to serve the Central Asia and Caucuses region. We are also increasing the number of outposts through resident representatives and exploring platforms for engaging with parts of the world such as the Middle East through a new regional center financed by Saudi Arabia.

These centers are absolutely essential in a world of more uncertainty, rapid technological change, multipolarity, more diversity in economic policy, and last but not least – more frequent unexpected exogenous shocks. We all have to work harder to understand trends and translate these trends into policy recommendations for our members. We do that much more effectively when we have the transmission lines that these centers provide to us and to our members.

STI is a prime example. Let me quote a few numbers to illustrate. Since its establishment, we have trained here more than 21,000 government officials across 37 countries. These programs cover a range of topics but let me stress three areas.

The first is core IMF macroeconomic and financial sector issues with over 700 courses. Second is the expansion of teaching to cover new emerging issues such as climate change and digitalization. And last but not least, this center plugs into the leadership Singapore provides to the world in the area of digital money. It is not by chance that we are celebrating the 25^th anniversary just before the fabulous Fintech Festival that Singapore is hosting, starting tomorrow.

I want to make three points for today. One, that this institute brings people together – to learn from each other and learn from the Fund. It is also a resource for us as we learn from you through these centers.

But learning is also accompanied with building networks and friendships. Many of the people who come through this institute have become senior officials in their own countries, retaining the networks they built while they were here. In one of the classrooms, I saw people from Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, Bhutan, Sri Lanka – from all over Asia and the Pacific region. As a former professor, I know that friendships that come studying together last for a lifetime.

My second point is to recognize that in a very dynamic world, the traditional policymaking that could take years is no more easily applicable. Policymakers have to be much faster, more agile, and they need to see through a degree of uncertainty that decades ago did not exist. So, what we do in this training is also to build that muscle of agility and adaptability that is helping policymakers of today and tomorrow to be more effective.

And finally, I want to say that I am particularly thrilled that this institute is the premier place on digital money, and specifically on CBDCs. Why? Of course, because of the role Singapore is playing and the high value Japan attaches to supporting the IMF in building better knowledge and understanding in CBDCs at the time interest in CBDC is skyrocketing.

Just to give you an example. We took the pulse of how many countries are engaging with CBDCs. Over 110 of our members are at some stage of engagement – some are quite advanced; some are still at the point of exploration. And for us, the institute becomes not only the place to teach about CBDCs, but also a place to understand the dynamism and identify what are the critical questions we at the IMF need to help answer.

Questions like: how can CBDCs help promote financial inclusion? What could they do for more people and businesses to tap into the financial assets of the world? Questions like how to onboard small businesses and informal merchants? How to make them part of the more formal system on the basis of CBDCs? And questions about interoperability of CBDCs: how could they be helping us with cross-border transactions given that, if the design is not oriented towards it, we may actually fragment, not integrate the world of money.

So, we are using the 25^th anniversary to also launch our virtual CBDC handbook. I want to thank Japan for the support that you provided us for it. What it does is it gives a picture of lessons that we have learned; it also is an open system where more lessons will be brought in. And I count on all of you to help us enhance our knowledge.

I have no doubt the future of this institute is bright because of what you have demonstrated as possible from your past.Thank you! 

Source: IMF

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Sri Lanka is mired in a deep political and economic crisis and the country’s then President Rajapaksa has flown out of the country, days after a huge crowd of protesters stormed his residence in July 2022. Protesters for months have demanded the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, whose government has been blamed for chronic mismanagement of the country’s finances.

The island nation of 22 million people has suffered months of lengthy blackouts, acute food and fuel shortages, and galloping inflation in its most painful downturn on record.

Island nation of Sri Lanka is mired in a deep crisis, they ousted their president who fled the country days after a huge crowd of protesters stormed his residence in July 2022. The country’s 22 million people have suffered months of lengthy blackouts, acute food and fuel shortages, and galloping inflation in its most painful downturn on record.

Here is how the crisis unfolded:

April 1: State of emergency

Rajapaksa declares a temporary state of emergency, giving security forces sweeping powers to arrest and detain suspects, after a spate of protests.

April 3: Cabinet resigns

Almost all of Sri Lanka’s cabinet resigns at a late-night meeting, leaving Rajapaksa and his brother Mahinda – the prime minister – isolated. The governor of the central bank, having resisted calls to seek a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), announces his resignation a day later.

April 5: President loses majority

President Rajapaksa’s problems deepen as finance minister Ali Sabry resigns just a day after he was appointed. The embattled leader loses his parliamentary majority as former allies urge him to quit. He lifts the state of emergency.

April 10: Medicine shortages

Sri Lanka’s doctors say they are nearly out of life-saving medicines, warning that the crisis could end up killing more people than the coronavirus.

April 12: Foreign debt default

The government announces it is defaulting on its foreign debt of $51bn as a “last resort” after running out of foreign exchange to import desperately needed goods.

April 19: First casualty

Police kill a protester, the first casualty of several weeks of anti-government protests. The next day, the IMF says it has asked Sri Lanka to restructure its colossal external debt before a rescue package can be agreed.

May 9: Day of violence

A mob of government loyalists bussed in from the countryside attacks peaceful protesters camped outside the president’s seafront office in Colombo. Nine people are killed and hundreds more injured in the reprisal attacks that follow, with crowds targeting those responsible for the violence and setting fire to the homes of politicians.

Mahinda Rajapaksa resigns as prime minister and has to be rescued by troops after thousands of protesters storm his residence in Colombo. He is replaced by Ranil Wickremesinghe, a political veteran who had already served several terms as premier.

May 10: Shoot-to-kill orders

The defence ministry orders troops to shoot on sight anyone involved in looting or “causing harm to life”. But protesters defy a new government curfew, which is rolled back at the end of the week. The top police officer in Colombo is assaulted and his vehicle set ablaze.

June 10: ‘Humanitarian emergency’

The United Nations warns that Sri Lanka is facing a dire humanitarian crisis, with millions already in need of aid. More than three-quarters of the population had reduced their food intake due to the country’s severe food shortages, the UN says.

June 27: Fuel sales suspended

The government says Sri Lanka is nearly out of fuel and halts all petrol sales except for essential services.

July 1: New inflation record

The government publishes data showing inflation has hit a record high for the ninth consecutive month, a day after the IMF asks Sri Lanka to rein in prices.

July 9: President’s house stormed

President Rajapaksa flees his official residence in Colombo with the assistance of troops, shortly before demonstrators storm the compound. He is taken to an undisclosed location. Footage from inside the residence shows jubilant protesters jumping in the pool and exploring its stately bedrooms.

Wickremesinghe’s residence is set on fire. Police say he and his family were not at the scene. Rajapaksa later offers to step down on July 13, parliamentary speaker Mahinda Abeywardana says in a televised statement.

July 13: President flees country

President Rajapaksa flies to the Maldives on a military aircraft, accompanied by his wife and a bodyguard. His departure comes after a humiliating airport standoff in Colombo, where immigration staff did not allow VIP services and insisted all passengers go through public counters.

July 21: Sri Lanka has a new president

Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as the President of Sri Lanka.

Source: Al Jazeera

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Berlin (3/11 – 40)

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe will visit China in the upcoming week as the crisis-hit country makes progress on debt restructuring talks with its biggest lender.

Wickremesinghe took office in July last year, after a popular uprising, brought on by an economic meltdown, had forced his predecessor out of power. His Oct. 15-19 visit to Beijing will be his first to China since then.

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is also finance minister, has been leading Sri Lanka’s push to manage its heavy debt and keep funds flowing from a $2.9 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme. He will visit China to continue debt talks.

Wickremesinghe, who is also finance minister, has been leading Sri Lanka’s push to manage its heavy debt and keep funds flowing from a $2.9 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.

He will attend a Belt and Road Forum in Beijing that would mark the 10th anniversary of the initiative championed by China’s President Xi Jinping to develop global infrastructure and energy networks.

Wickremesinghe is expected to meet Xi on the sidelines of the forum, said the source who declined to be named as he was not authorised to speak with the media. The Sri Lankan leader intends to meet China’s finance and foreign ministers too.

Sri Lanka owes Chinese lenders – bilateral and commercial – around $7 billion. It reached an agreement with the Export-Import Bank of China on Thursday covering about $4.2 billion of outstanding debt but is still working with other key bilateral creditors including Japan and India on reaching a debt restructuring plan.

Sri Lanka defaulted on its foreign debt in May last year after its dollar reserves fell to a point where the island nation of 22 million people could no longer pay for essential imports like fuel and medicine.

Sri Lanka needs to reach agreements with creditors to push forward its first review of the IMF programme, which will release a second tranche of about $334 million. The first tranche was released in March.

The country has been a key receiver of loans under China’s Belt and Road infrastructure drive, helping it to build highways, a port, an airport and a coal power plant.

Source

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