Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe greets school children as airforce commander Air Marshal Sudarshana Pathirana (background left), and police chief Chandana Wickremeratne (right) watch during the 75th Independence Day ceremony in Colombo, Sri Lanka on Feb 4, 2023. Sri Lanka is trying to reduce its overall debt by $17 billion through restructuring, Wickremesinghe told the parliament on April 26, 2023. (PHOTO / AP)
COLOMBO – Sri Lanka is trying to reduce its overall debt by $17 billion through restructuring, its president told the parliament on Wednesday as he sought support of opposition parties for a nearly $3 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) program.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe also said the country would discuss debt restructuring with India and the Paris Club of creditors on one platform.
Caught in its worst financial crisis since independence from Britain in 1948, the island nation of 22 million people secured an IMF loan last month.
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Sri Lanka owes $7.1 billion to bilateral creditors, according to official government data, with $2.4 billion to the Paris Club and $1.6 billion to India.
Wickremesinghe said no final decision had been taken yet on domestic debt restructuring.
Sri Lanka needs to accelerate growth to 6 percent or higher by 2028 or 2029 to repay debt and develop, he added.