COLOMBO -- Sri Lanka's diplomatic failure to secure a concrete debt relief framework from China, its largest bilateral lender, is blocking access to desperately needed cash under a $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund.
A visit by IMF officials last month highlighted once again the bankrupt South Asian nation's slow progress in restructuring its external debt. The fund, which has insisted on "financing assurances" from bilateral lenders as a key pillar, gave Sri Lanka a failing grade in the first review of the bailout, denying it a second tranche of $330 million in aid.
