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IMF’s Georgieva to press for quicker action on debt relief with China

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International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Thursday that she will travel to Beijing next week with heads of other international institutions to press for quicker action on debt relief for poor and developing countries.

The meetings with the country’s leadership will focus on China’s economic, COVID-19 and debt relief policies and will include officials from China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China, the IMF said.

“This is the first time, hopefully, we will be able to sit together and discuss the very pressing issues that China, and the world are faced with,” Georgieva told the Reuters NEXT conference.

Georgieva said that during the Beijing meetings she intends to discuss ways to accelerate China’s participation in debt relief for poor and developing countries as the world’s largest official bilateral creditor.

“I am very hopeful that when we have a chance next week to discuss these issues, we will continue on a path of finding better solutions and strengthening the capacity of the common framework to deliver,” she said, referring to G20 countries’ slow-to-launch common debt restructuring framework.

World Bank President David Malpass told the conference that he would join the discussions in Beijing, along with officials from the World Trade Organization, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and others.

Georgieva and Malpass have both called for reforms of the common framework to offer heavily indebted countries a freeze in debt service payments when they apply for debt relief and clearer timelines for reaching agreement on debt treatments.

Asked if China’s slowing growth would limit its appetite for agreeing to debt reductions, Georgieva said she hoped that China would act out of “enlightened self-interest” and strive to prevent debt issues in developing countries from deepening and spilling over to a global debt crisis. Such a crisis would inflict pain on borrowing countries, but would also negatively affect creditor countries, especially China, she said.

China’s COVID-19 restrictions and turmoil in its vast property sector have brought China’s projected growth rate back to 3.2% for next year — barely above global averages and a phenomenon not seen during the past 40 years, she said.

“We have relied on China for a significant increase in global growth,” Georgieva said. “Some 35% to 40% of global growth used to come from China’s growth and this is not the case now, and it’s not going to be the case next year.”

(Reuters)

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Former Eastern Provincial Council member arrested

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Ampara District Organizer of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal party and former member of the Eastern Provincial Council K. Pushpakumar alias Iniya Bharathi has been arrested.

He was arrested over the abduction and disappearance of the former Vice Chancellor of the Eastern University Prof. Subramaniyam Ravindranath.

Sivanathurai Chandrakanthan, alias Pillayan, the leader of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) and former State Minister, was arrested by the Colombo Criminal Investigation Department at his office in Batticaloa on April 8, over this incident.

He was later detained for 3 months under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

Iniya Bharathi, also known as Kumaraswamy Pushpakumar, was arrested based on information revealed during the interrogation of Pillayan.

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e-Revenue Licence system down due to technical glitch, ICTA says

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The Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) said the electronic Revenue Licence system (eRL 2.0) is currently unavailable due to a critical technical infrastructure issue.

According to the ICTA, the disruption began on July 3, 2025, and has made vehicle revenue licence issuing services inaccessible.

The unavailability is expected to continue until July 9, 2025.

The ICTA expressed regret for the inconvenience caused to the public and assured that technical teams are working urgently to resolve the issue.

The agency also said that further updates will be shared as work progresses, with an official notice to be issued once services are restored.

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Three injured in Kosgama shooting, including 12-year-old girl

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Three people, including a 12-year-old girl, were injured in a shooting incident at Suduwella, Kosgama, early this morning (6), police said.

They said the victims were travelling in a three-wheeler when two individuals on a motorcycle opened fire using a pistol-type weapon.

The injured include a 30-year-old woman and her 12-year-old daughter, both residents of Avissawella, as well as a 44-year-old man.

All three have been admitted to Avissawella Hospital for treatment.

Police said the motive for the attack and the identities of the suspects have not yet been established.

Kosgama Police are conducting further investigations into the incident.

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