Sri Lanka: Urgent loan request from IMF – Deep crisis in the country

Sri Lanka is in a deep economic crisis and a group under the new Minister of Finance Ali Sambri met with representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington to request urgent borrowing.

The team has formally applied for the country to borrow from the so-called Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) to alleviate problems in the country’s supply of basic items. Initially, the IMF was of the opinion that its criteria were not met, but India supported the idea of ​​using the RFI, summed up Samir Zawahir, an associate of the Minister of Finance, via Twitter.

The Rajapakha government plans to borrow $ 3 billion from various creditors – the IMF, the World Bank and the federal government of India, among others – to overcome the crisis, Sambri told Reuters a few days ago.

The crisis has caused a shortage of foreign exchange, especially dollars, something with a huge impact on imports, and the international financial institution may consider the loan, although at first it seemed to have reservations, according to the minister’s environment. Last week the government in Colombo declared a moratorium on all its external debt until further notice.

On the streets for hikes

Protesters took to the streets again throughout Sri Lanka as the country faces rising fuel prices and shortages of petrol and diesel.

Mass mobilizations are underway in several cities: Public transport has been blocked, including trains, and movement to schools and businesses has been disrupted, a senior police official said.

Yesterday (18/4) the largest increases in fuel prices so far began to apply: that of diesel rose by 64%, that of gasoline by 33% per liter.

Citizens gathered to protest outside the office of President Mahinda Rajapakha for the 11th day in a row, according to the APE-MPE report, citing Reuters and the DPA. Protesters are demanding the resignation of the head of state and his prime minister, Mahinda Rajapakha’s older brother.