Japan keen on chairing SL creditors’ conference

Japan has expressed keenness in organising a Sri Lanka creditors’ conference, an effort taken to help ease out the island nation’s debt crisis.

News agency Reuters reported yesterday that Tokyo is open to hosting talks among all the creditor nations aimed at lifting Colombo from its worst debt crisis since independence. However, it said that sources have shared that it is not clear whether top creditor China would join.

“Japan would be willing to chair such a meeting with China, if that would speed up the process for addressing Sri Lanka’s debt, estimated at US $ 6.2 billion on a bilateral basis at the end of 2020,” reported Reuters, quoting anonymous sources.

Last week, President Ranil Wickremesinghe placed on record that Sri Lanka would request Japan to invite the main creditor nations to talks on restructuring bilateral debts. Wickremesinghe shared that he would discuss the matter with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo next month, when he is expected to attend the funeral of the assassinated former premier Shinzo Abe.

Tokyo is Sri Lanka’s second largest creditor and is looking to aid Sri Lanka for two key reasons, highlighted Reuters. The first is to recover its US $ 3 billion in loans and the second is to keep track of the growing presence of China in the region.