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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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Indian national injured in fall along Ratnapura – Sri Pada road

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A foreigner has been injured after falling down 100 metres off the side railings along the Ratnapura – Sri Pada road in the Ehelakanuwa area.

The officers of Police Special Task Force (STF) in Maskeliya have rescued the Indian national and rushed him to the hospital.

The 25-year-old has been identified as Bharath Chandradas, a resident of Mumbai in the Indian state of Maharashtra.

The injured person has been traveling from Ratnapura to Sri Pada with another group of pilgrims when the accident occurred at around 4.45 a.m. this morning (29), the police said.

Accordingly, the officers of the Sri Pada Udamaluwa Police Post had taken steps to notify the STF of the incident, after which injured youth was brought to safety.

The group accompanying the injured Indian national has been escorted to Nallathanniya, after the incident was informed to Nallathanniya Police Station.

(Except for the headline, this story, originally published by adaderana.lk has not been edited by SLM staff)

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Maithri ordered to provide statement before court

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The Maligakanda Magistrate’s Court has ordered former President Maithripala Sirisena to provide a statement to court on April 04, based on the recent comments he had made over the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings.

The order was issued today (28) after the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had reported the relevant facts to the court, on the instructions of the Attorney General.

Mr. Sirisena had made this statement on March 22 and several factions had subsequently filed complaints with the Criminal Investigation Department in this regard.

The former President had even recorded a statement for around five-hours with the CID on Monday (March 25) over his recent comments.

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Sinopec to commence work on refinery project by June

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Minister of Power and Energy – Kanchana Wijesekera has stated that officials of the Sinopec Overseas Investment Holding Pvt Ltd (SOIHL), led by their vice President, had visited the ministry yesterday (March 27).

Tweeting, the minister added that the delegation updated on the progress of the negotiations with stakeholders for the construction of the proposed new refinery in Hambantota.

Noting that the officials indicated that the management of Sinopec has decided to double the capacity of the refinery from the original proposal and the Investment, he added that they intend to sign the agreements for the project and commence work by June 2024.

Discussions regarding the water supply, power supply, land allocation & BOI facilities will take place today with the relevant authorities, the Minister further noted.

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