
COLOMBO -- Sri Lanka on Thursday landed a preliminary agreement to obtain $2.9 billion from the International Monetary Fund, a crucial lifeline for the crisis-plagued South Asian country.
Officials from the multilateral lender, however, were quick to caution that this is only the beginning of a long road to recovery. They also made clear that much will depend on the willingness of Sri Lanka's existing creditors -- a list that includes China -- to cooperate.