IMF talks with Sri Lanka to resume next week

The IMF said on Friday a team will travel to Sri Lanka next week to resume aid talks that were interrupted amid the unrest that led to the resignation of the nation’s president.

The island nation defaulted on its $51 billion foreign debt in April and is seeking help from the International Monetary Fund after months of food, fuel and medicine shortages.

Amid runaway inflation, the country’s central bank warned on Thursday that the economy could suffer a record contraction of more than eight percent this year with inflation peaking at 65%.

Staff from the Washington-based crisis lender plan to visit Colombo during August 24-31 “to continue discussions with the Sri Lankan authorities on economic and financial reforms and policies,” the IMF said in a statement.

“The objective is to make progress towards reaching a staff-level agreement” on a funding package “in the near term,” the IMF said.