Japan, India, and France on April 13 unveiled a plan to initiate a negotiation process with Sri Lanka’s creditors to coordinate the restructuring of Sri Lanka’s debt as the country seeks to resolve its economic crisis. The plan was announced following a high-level meeting between officials from the three countries on the sidelines of International…

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday said its executive board approved a nearly $3 billion bailout for Sri Lanka, and the country’s presidency said the program will enable it to access up to $7 billion in overall funding. The decision will allow an immediate disbursement of about $333 million, the IMF said, and will spur financial…

China has reportedly offered Sri Lanka a two-year debt moratorium as “an immediate contingency measure” to support Sri Lanka in securing a $2.9 billion bailout package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In a letter sent to Sri Lanka’s Finance Ministry on Jan. 19, the Export-Import Bank of China said that it would grant a…

Sri Lanka has secured India’s support for its debt restructuring plan, a key to Sri Lanka securing a $2.9 billion bailout package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but it still requires support from its biggest bilateral lender, China. Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said Friday that India will extend financing assurances to the…

Sri Lanka has summoned Canada’s envoy over Ottawa’s decision to sanction four high-ranking officials for alleged human-rights breaches. Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Ali Sabry issued a statement accusing Canada of caving to Tamil diaspora politics in sanctioning two former presidents and two military officers. Ottawa announced Monday it was barring two former presidents from entry…

Canada is imposing sanctions on four senior leaders of Sri Lanka, including two recent presidents, accusing them of human rights violations during that country’s civil war. The sanctions target former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who resigned last July, and his older brother Mahinda Rajapaksa, who has held the titles of president and prime minister. Gotabaya temporarily…

Gautam Adani, Asia’s richest man, has stepped in to help countries escape economic hardship caused by China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Adani is part of a movement of increasing resistance to BRI. The Indian billionaire predicts that it will lead to growing isolation for China. As of Nov. 27, Adani was the richest person…

Sri Lanka’s government will take responsibility for loans taken out by state-owned enterprises from China as part of the country’s debt-restructuring plan, President Ranil Wickremesinghe said in parliament on Tuesday. Wickremesinghe, who is also the finance minister, was delivering the national budget for 2023. He said that loans borrowed from the Exim Bank of China…

Food insecurity has “increased dramatically ” in cash-strapped Sri Lanka, with the number of people requiring life-saving assistance doubling to 3.4 million, the United Nations said on Tuesday. The U.N. stated that about 6.3 million Sri Lankans face “moderate-to-severe acute” food insecurity due to the country’s poor harvest season and high food inflation, which peaked…

Sri Lanka is now entrenched in an economic collapse and a humanitarian crisis, a little more than one year after the federal government adopted organic agriculture policies that adhered to the global environmental, social, and governance (ESG) trend. This past summer, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa announced that he would be stepping down, after thousands of citizens…