Colombo: Japan, India and France have announced a common platform for talks among bilateral creditors to coordinate the restructuring of Sri Lanka’s debt, a move they hope would serve as a model for solving the debt woes of middle-income economies.
The participation of China, Sri Lanka's largest bilateral creditor, in the effort announced by Japan, the G7 chair for this year, to begin a series of meetings among Sri Lanka's creditors, is still up in the air.
“To be able to launch this negotiation process, gathering such a broad-based group of creditors, is a historical outcome,” Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki told a briefing.
“This committee is open to all creditors,” he said, voicing hope China would join in the effort.
French Director General of the Treasury Emmanuel Moulin told the briefing the group was ready to hold the first round of talks “as soon as possible”.
Sri Lanka’s central bank governor told a news agency earlier this week that having a single platform for talks would be a welcome move that would make it easier to discuss and share information.
“I hope the creation of this platform will become a model case” for debt restructuring of middle-income countries, Suzuki said.
Japan’s top currency diplomat Masato Kanda told reporters the group has sent an invitation to all of Sri Lanka’s bilateral creditors, including China, and hopes to hold the first round of talks at the earliest date possible.
President and finance minister of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe delivered the statement through video conference. "The beginning of a coordinated effort... to address Sri Lanka's distress means we have made a critical policy adjustment with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)," he added.