As Sri Lanka’s creditor nations prepare for their first meeting on Tuesday to co-ordinate restructuring of the Indian Ocean nation’s debt, the focus is turning to whether China will attend. Last month France, India and Japan unveiled a common platform for talks among bilateral creditors to co-ordinate restructuring of Sri Lanka’s debt. Sri Lanka owes $7.1 billion to bilateral creditors, government data show, with $3 billion owed to China, followed by $2.4 billion to the Paris Club and $1.6 billion to India. The government also needs to renegotiate more than $12 billion of debt in eurobonds with overseas private creditors, and $2.7 billion on other commercial loans. Sri Lanka has kicked off talks to rework part of its domestic debt and aims to finalise the deal by May.

Source: The Nation May 09, 2023 06:10 UTC