Sri Lanka’s president said Thursday that he would ask Japan to initiate debt restructuring talks with Sri Lanka’s main creditors, including China and India, as the crisis-hit nation strives to revive its collapsed economy.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe said that he would travel to Japan in September to discuss the matter with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
“Someone needs to call in, invite the main creditor nations. We will ask Japan to do it,” Wickremesinghe said in an interview with Reuters.
Sri Lanka has $10 billion in bilateral debt as of August 2022, of which 44 percent is owed to China, according to Sri Lanka’s finance ministry (pdf). Japan holds 32 percent of Sri Lanka’s debt while India holds another 10 percent….