IMF delegation visits crisis-hit Sri Lanka with time running out

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) team arrives in Sri Lanka on Monday for talks on a bailout program, but time is short for a country just days from running out of fuel and likely months from getting any relief money.

Sri Lanka is battling its worst financial crisis since independence in 1948, as decades of economic mismanagement and recent policy errors coupled with a hit from COVID-19 to tourism and remittances, shriveling foreign reserves to record lows.

The island nation of 22 million people suspended payment on $12 billion debt in April. The United Nations has warned soaring inflation, a plunging currency and chronic shortages of fuel, food and medicine could spiral into a humanitarian crisis.

The IMF team, visiting Colombo through June 30, will continue recent talks on what would be Sri Lanka’s 17th rescue program, the IMF said on Sunday.

“We reaffirm our commitment to support Sri Lanka at this difficult time, in line with the IMF’s policies,” the global lender said in a statement.

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