Japan to organise creditors’ conference for Sri Lanka

Japan is open to organising a creditors’ conference for Sri Lanka and chair it, Reuters reported yesterday. However, it is not certain weather China will be willing to join a creditors’ conference and that this might be a major stumbling block in organising such a conference.

Last week, President Ranil Wickremesinghe said Sri Lanka would ask Japan to invite main creditor nations on restructuring bilateral debts President Wickremesinghe is expected to discuss the issue with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in September.Wickremesinghe is to attend the funeral of former premier Shinzo Abe.

Japan too has given Sri Lankan three billion US dollars in loans. An IMF delegation is in Sri Lanka to discuss a three billion US dollar IMF aid programme. Earlier this week, Wickremesinghe urged China to change its stance on debt relief. “We have informed the Chinese Government (of) the need to restructure (the debt) and the need for all the creditors to sing from the same hymn sheet,” Wickremesinghe told Nikkei Asia during an interview.He said that “China, of course, has adopted a different approach, so it is a question of what is the agreement that the (other creditor) parties can reach with China.”