An Echelon Media Company
Saturday June 3rd, 2023

China “sad” that Sri Lanka went to IMF and defaulted: envoy

China’s Ambassador to Colombo, Qi Zhenhong

ECONMYNEXT – China is “sad” that Sri Lanka went to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and defaulted on its debt, Ambassador Qi Zhenhong said, adding that China is watching the island nation’s negotiations with the Washington-based lender.

“China has done its best to help Sri Lanka not to default but sadly they went to the IMF and decided to default,” Ambassador Qi told reporters at a media briefing in Colombo.

“The debt restructuring definitely will have an impact on future bilateral loans,” he said.

Ambassador Qi said in March that China was considering a request for 1.5 billion US dollars in buyer’s credit and another billion-dollar loan.

The IMF determined that Sri Lanka’s debt was not sustainable or could not be repaid with macro-economic adjustments involving rate and tax hikes alone and had to restructure debt to reduce the gross finance need to a manageable level.

On April 12, Sri Lanka said it was suspending payment on foreign debt and will negotiate with creditors.

Now China was waiting for IMF talks to progress and wanted more information on debt restructuring. Sri Lanka will negotiate with the Paris Club of western donors, other lenders like China and India, multilateral and separately with bondholders.

“We are closely monitoring the IMF discussion between Sri Lanka and IMF,” he said.

“Countries that colonised Sri Lanka have more obligations to help at this juncture.”

However China will continue to disburse old loans as agreed, he said. (Colombo/Apr25/2022)

Comments (8)

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. Tirupathirao ankusarao says:

    You better ask Srilankans who the colonizers are.

  2. Panduka says:

    China is also responsible for lending money to SL project that doe snot create income and using debt to trap countries

  3. Brigadier (Rtd) Ranjan de Silva says:

    China took pride in saying China does not interfere in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs. They gave massive “loans” to Sri Lanka’s corrupt rulers. Now the truth is out. The country, the people did not benefit. These corrupt rulers stole the money. Their policy of non-interference helped dishonest Sri Lankan rulers. These rulers brought disgrace upon themselves and China. China is not popular in Sri Lanka anymore. China’s big mistake. What have you got to say China?

  4. Tua says:

    Ah, funny to squeeze us further & bloody parasites

  5. piero emmanuel says:

    COLONIZATION HAS DIFFRENT MEANING IN THE PAST AND THE PRESENT CONTEXT
    SRI LANKA HAS SUPPORTED CHINA BY IMPORTING CLOSE TO 4 BILLION USD PER YEAR WHILE PAYING INTERESTS AS WELL AS CERATING JOBS FOR CHINEASE AND SENDING SRI LANKAN STUDENTS TO CHINA .WHAT KIND OF INVESTMENT WE HAVE RECIVED ?ODAs are not investments .invest in secorts that Sri Lanka has identified not what China wants like cement and steel

  6. Marlon says:

    This comment section is made out of morons and sold out liberals.

  7. Jivaka says:

    It is even sadder that the “wisdom of Asia” is lacking in the Chinese statement. Is this the Country that took hundreds of millions of their people over the poverty line on a strategic trajectory?

  8. kumar dassenaieke says:

    China has always helped SL with genuine interest.History can justify(just one eg:Rice/Rubber pact).Has always been a friend.
    I believe going to IMF was not prudent.This is the fault of the Finance minisier/Central Bank/Treasury

View all comments (8)

Comments (8)

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. Tirupathirao ankusarao says:

    You better ask Srilankans who the colonizers are.

  2. Panduka says:

    China is also responsible for lending money to SL project that doe snot create income and using debt to trap countries

  3. Brigadier (Rtd) Ranjan de Silva says:

    China took pride in saying China does not interfere in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs. They gave massive “loans” to Sri Lanka’s corrupt rulers. Now the truth is out. The country, the people did not benefit. These corrupt rulers stole the money. Their policy of non-interference helped dishonest Sri Lankan rulers. These rulers brought disgrace upon themselves and China. China is not popular in Sri Lanka anymore. China’s big mistake. What have you got to say China?

  4. Tua says:

    Ah, funny to squeeze us further & bloody parasites

  5. piero emmanuel says:

    COLONIZATION HAS DIFFRENT MEANING IN THE PAST AND THE PRESENT CONTEXT
    SRI LANKA HAS SUPPORTED CHINA BY IMPORTING CLOSE TO 4 BILLION USD PER YEAR WHILE PAYING INTERESTS AS WELL AS CERATING JOBS FOR CHINEASE AND SENDING SRI LANKAN STUDENTS TO CHINA .WHAT KIND OF INVESTMENT WE HAVE RECIVED ?ODAs are not investments .invest in secorts that Sri Lanka has identified not what China wants like cement and steel

  6. Marlon says:

    This comment section is made out of morons and sold out liberals.

  7. Jivaka says:

    It is even sadder that the “wisdom of Asia” is lacking in the Chinese statement. Is this the Country that took hundreds of millions of their people over the poverty line on a strategic trajectory?

  8. kumar dassenaieke says:

    China has always helped SL with genuine interest.History can justify(just one eg:Rice/Rubber pact).Has always been a friend.
    I believe going to IMF was not prudent.This is the fault of the Finance minisier/Central Bank/Treasury

Sri Lanka to ramp up weekend fuel deliveries after petrol price cut

More deaths reported at Sri Lanka fuel queues

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation will be operating on the weekend to complete all fuel deliveries to end vehicle queues forming outside fuel stations after the price revision earlier in the week, Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera said.

“Instructions have been given to CPC and Ceylon Petroleum Storage Terminals to continue fuel deliveries on Saturday and Sunday this week to supply sufficient stocks to all fuel stations,” Minister Wijesekera said in a TWITTER.COM MESSAGE

“To reduce expenses on overtime, CPC and CPSTL have not been operating on Sundays and public holidays in the last 4 months,” Wijesekera said.

“Non-placement of orders by fuel stations from last Saturday, anticipating a price reduction, not maintaining minimum stocks, immediate increase in demand by consumers after the price revision, and quota increase have created shortages in the fuel stations.”

The Minister in April 2023 said all fuel stations would be required to maintain a minimum of 50 percent of stock tank capacity.

“I have asked CPC to review and suspend the license of fuel stations that had not maintained minimum stocks.” (Colombo/ June 02/ 2023)

Continue Reading

Sri Lanka bonds yield up at close, rupee at 291.75/292.50 against the US dollar

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s bonds closed steady on Friday, dealers said, following the central bank’s decision to cut its main policy rate by 250 basis points.

The Spot US dollar closed at 291.75/292.50 rupees, dealers said.

The rupee opened at 290.25/75 to the US dollar Thursday and closed at 292.50/295.50 to the US dollar.

A bond maturing on 15.09.2027 closed at 24.70/90 percent up from 24.50/90 percent a day earlier, dealers said.

A bond maturing on 15.05.2026 closed at 25.75/26.25 percent up from 25.00/26.00 percent a day earlier.

A bond maturing on 01.05.2025 closed at 27.00/30 percent, up from 26.30/27.00 per cent at last close.

A bond maturing on 01.07.2032 closed at 20.25/21.00 percent, up from 20.00/40 per cent at last close.
(Colombo/ June 02/2023)

Continue Reading

Sri Lanka’s shares edge up on positive macroeconomic sentiments

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s shares closed higher in trade on Friday, over positive macro-sentiments encouraging investors to redeem their interest towards buying, an analyst said.

The main All Share Price Index was up 0.72 percent or 62.19 points to 8,753.80,  while the most liquid index S&P SL20 was up 0.68 percent or 16.87 points to 2,487.29.

Sri Lanka’s inflation in the 12-months to May 2023 has eased to 25.2 percent from 35.3 percent a month earlier according to a revised Colombo Consumer Price Index calculated by the state statistics office.

Prior to the Monetary Policy investors were quite optimistic that inflation is to lower and interest rates will decrease and since exp, an analyst said.

Sri Lanka Central Bank is waiting for the government proposal on the domestic debt restructuring (DDR), the central bank governor Nandalal Weerasinghe said amid uncertainty over DDR and speculations over instability in the banking sector.

“On debt restructuring, the borrower is the ministry of finance’s treasury. Certainly we will announce what the strategy will be. We are waiting for a government proposal,” Weerasinghe said.

Sri Lanka’s investors are waiting on assurances to be made on debt restructuring and optimization, Central Bank Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe said, “It is up to the government to clear the uncertainty, because from our side we have done that part.”

The central bank cut the key policy rates by 250 basis points to spur a faltering economic growth as inflation was decelerating faster than it projected.

The speculation of DDR has hit the market and the risk premium has kept the market lending rates well above the central bank’s policy rates. The government has yet to present its plans on DDR.

Weerasinghe said the central bank has done its best to reduce the risk premium through bringing down the market lending rates while keeping the policy rates unchanged.

Sri Lanka’s President Ranil Wickremesinghe has discussed progress of International Monetary Fund program and debt restructuring during a visit of Deputy Managing Director Kenji Okamura, statement said.

“The discussion primarily focused on the progress of the IMF program between Sri Lanka and the IMF,” a statement from President’s office said.

“Attention was also paid to the on-going debt restructuring negotiations.”

However Officials from IMF have said Sri Lanka has to focus on expanding taxes.

“We discussed the importance of fiscal measures, in particular revenue measures, for a return to macroeconomic stability,” Deputy Managing Director Kenji Okamura said in a statement.

The finance ministry this week issued rules requiring everyone above 18 year of age to register to pay income tax.

“I was encouraged by the authorities’ commitment to negotiate a debt strategy in a timely and transparent manner.

The market generated a revenue of 738 million rupees, while the daily average was 1 billion rupees.

Top gainers in trade were Vallibel One, LOLC Finance and Browns Investment. (Colombo/June02/2023)

Continue Reading