(Nikkei) Sri Lanka's government appears increasingly upbeat about its chances of receiving International Monetary Fund board approval for a $2.9 billion bailout by December, but the multilateral lender has cautioned that the time frame remains uncertain, and much depends on discussions with the heavily indebted country's creditors.Peter Breuer, senior mission chief for Sri Lanka, and Masahiro Nozaki, mission chief for Sri Lanka, in written comments to Nikkei Asia, said, "It is difficult to predict the timeline, as the process of debt relief discussions takes time.
All parties who are involved in the process should move expeditiously, so that Sri Lanka can emerge from the crisis as quickly as possible."On Sept.
1, Sri Lanka reached a staff-level agreement with the IMF to obtain the $2.9 billion, a crucial lifeline for a country wrestling with the worst economic crisis in its history.
The country's year-on-year inflation topped 70% in August, and the public continues to face severe shortages of essentials.Earlier this year, Sri Lanka defaulted on a foreign bond for the first time, after its foreign reserves dwindled to next to nothing. "We announced that we are not in a position to pay," central bank Gov.