Sri Lanka Asks China For Help
On Monday, the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s requested to China for its assistance in mitigating the debt amidst deepening forex crisis. The request by Sri Lankan PM was made during a meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Colombo on Sunday, saying that this will help Colombo immensely at this time, and the assistance from Beijing will be really appreciated. The request from Rajapaksa is mainly about restructuring the debt payments to resolve the current economic crisis arises due to Covid 19 pandemic. As per estimates, payment of USD 1.5 to 2 billion are due this year. As per the experts from international rating agencies, Sri Lanka does not have the ability to pay USD 1500 million. As per the initial agreement Sri Lanka has to pay USD 500 million next week. President Rajapaksa has made a request for a concessional trade credit scheme for imports from China, as per him, this will enable industries to run smoothly. The visit of Chinese Foreign Minis...