BEIJING, 3 Feb: China\u2019s government on Friday confirmed it is offering Sri Lanka a two-year moratorium on loan repayments as the Indian Ocean island nation struggles to restructure $51 billion in foreign debt that pushed it into a financial crisis.
\nChina lent to Sri Lanka as part of Beijing\u2019s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative to increase trade by building ports and other infrastructure across Asia and Africa. The International Monetary Fund offered a $2.9 billion emergency loan but wants other creditors to cut debts, which Beijing had resisted, possibly for fear other borrowers would want the same relief.
\nChina presented a plan to \u201cprovide an extension on debt service due in 2022 and 2023,\u201d said a foreign ministry spokeswoman, Mao Ning. \u201cDuring that period, Sri Lanka would not have to pay the principal and interest due on bank loans.\u201d
\nChina is Sri Lanka\u2019s third-biggest creditor after Japan and the Asian Development Bank, accounting for about 10% of its debt. But its lack of agreement blocked a final settlement.
\nSri Lanka used Chinese loans to build an airport and other projects that failed to pay for themselves.
\nIndia, which China sees as a strategic rival, announced last month it gave the IMF assurances to facilitate a bailout plan. India has given Sri Lanka $4.4 billion in emergency credit.
\nSri Lanka ran out of foreign currency last April, leading to food shortages, power cuts and protests that forced a prime minister to resign and a president to flee the country. AP<\/p>\n
Debt repayment to China, Japan and other foreign lenders was suspended.
\nThe island\u2019s government is cutting spending and says it will cut the size of its 200,000-member military by almost half by 2030. AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BEIJING, 3 Feb: China\u2019s government on Friday confirmed it is offering Sri Lanka a two-year moratorium on loan repayments as the Indian Ocean island nation struggles to restructure $51 billion in foreign debt that pushed it into a financial crisis. China lent to Sri Lanka as part of Beijing\u2019s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-210152","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210152\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}