Specific and credible financing assurances for Sri Lanka is most urgent – US top official

• IMF estimates that around 55 percent of low-income countries are close to or in debt distress

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen yesterday said that committing to specific and credible financing assurances for Sri Lanka is most urgent.

“I will continue to push for all bilateral official creditors, including China, to participate in meaningful debt treatments for developing countries and emerging markets in distress. Most urgent is the need to provide debt treatment to Zambia, and to commit to specific and credible financing assurances for Sri Lanka,” Yellen said. Addressing a press conference at the G20 meeting in Bengaluru, India, Yellen also said that,  “We need to work together to ease the debt overhang that is holding back too many countries. The IMF estimates that around 55 percent of low-income countries are close to or in debt distress,” she added.