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Sri Lanka hopes to seek respite from debt repayment: Wickremesinghe

Sri Lanka hopes to avoid repaying debt till December 2027 after the completion of the ongoing restructuring process and repay them in the period running up to 2042, President Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Wednesday, as he defended his unpopular reform plans to revive the bankrupt economy. Sri Lanka is currently stuck with debt restructuring with negotiations taking a long to reach an agreement. By 2022, Sri Lanka had to meet external debt repayments worth 6 billion per year. It is 9.5 per cent of the GDP and an amount hard to sustain," he said. "We hope to reduce this to 4.5 per cent of the GDP by debt restructuring, Wickremesinghe, also the cash-strapped island nation's finance minister, stressed. Currently we are actively engaged in discussions regarding the restructuring of all loans including domestic and foreign loans. We are optimistic that these negotiations will reach a successful resolution soon. Our goal is to obtain temporary relief from debt defaults from 2023 to 2027. .

Race for new Pakistan finance minister heats up ahead of IMF negotiations

Former four-time finance minister Ishaq Dar remains the top contender, according to two sources in his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party

WTO: Fisheries subsidies are vital for developing countries, says India

With about 9 million people dependent on the sector, India constitutes 25 per cent of the world's fishermen

Cash-strapped Pakistan says IMF conditions for $1.2 billion tranche met

Pakistan has met the IMF's benchmarks for maintaining the status quo in the energy sector in an outcome that may help to get the next loan tranche of USD 1.2 billion, officials said, ahead of the visit of the global lender's review mission to the cash-strapped country. The Ministry of Energy officials said they have met the end-December targets related to containing the flow of circular debt below Pakistani Rs 385 billion, timely increase in the electricity prices, and slowing the increase in line losses, The Express Tribune newspaper reported. The IMF would review the implementation of these targets during the loan negotiations under the second review of the USD 3 billion bailout package. The IMF's review mission might visit Islamabad by the end of this month or early next month, provided the government formation at the federal and provincial levels is complete. Citing sources, the paper said that against the condition to restrict the flow of the circular debt to Pakistani Rs 385

Use of AI can prevent stressed assets: IMF ED Krishnamurthy Subramanian

Subramanian said India should follow the global practice where the bourses and the regulator need to be informed when there is a violation of a technical covenant

IMF ready to work with new govt in Pakistan to ensure economic stability

Khan on Thursday said he will write to the IMF, demanding the global lender to stop its support to the cash-strapped country until it seeks an 'audit' of the elections mired in controversies

World Bank needs to restructure itself, attract private capital: N K Singh

The World Bank needs to reinvent and restructure itself so as to become 'better, bolder and bigger' and harness private capital on the strength of its own balance sheet, said N K Singh, Co-Convenor, Expert Group on MDB Reforms. The World Bank should also look at the possibility of tapping pension funds to increase its capital base and its capacity to fund development projects in developing nations. "Bretton Woods was the first one, it certainly needs to be reinvented, restructured and recreated. But there is no substitute for multilateral cooperation. and that's why better, bolder and bigger," Singh said at a panel discussion at the Raisina Dialogue, 2024. A high-level expert group, led by N K Singh and former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, was set up by the G20 under India's presidency. In its report, the group had proposed a 30-point roadmap to reform Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) and triple their lending by 2030, which includes attracting private investors and ...

Govt debt to GDP may fall in contrast to global trend: RBI report

Dismisses IMF's contention of ratio exceeding 100%

Uncertain political situation in Pakistan poses threat to IMF deal: Fitch

Fitch further noted country's vulnerable external position meant that securing financing from multilateral and bilateral partners would an urgent issues on the agenda for the next govt

Confident on global economic outlook despite uncertainties: IMF's Georgieva

'While uncertainties are still high, we can be a bit more confident about the economic outlook, because the global economy has been surprisingly resilient,' she said in the speech

IMF warns Maldives faces high risk of external and overall debt distress

IMF report advised Maldives to enhance financial sector oversight & crisis management, improve the business climate, strengthen governance, and enhance skill development

Pakistan elections amid political, economic turmoil tomorrow: Details here

Pakistan Elections 2024: The country is set to go for polling to elect its 16th National Assembly on February 8. This comes at a time when it is facing several issues

IMF predicts China to witness economic decline over next 4 years: Report

In a report released on Friday, the IMF projected that China's economic growth will reduce to 4.6 per cent this year, down from its 5.2 per cent growth in 2023

Sri Lanka's key inflation rises to 6.4% in January on higher sales tax

Food prices rose 3.3% in January from 0.3% in December, the Department of Census and Statistics said in a statement. Prices for non-food items rose 7.9% in January from 5.8% year-on-year in December

Threats and opportunities

Policy should prepare to deal with AI

Pakistan receives $700 million tranche from IMF ahead of elections

Ahead of the next month's elections, cash-strapped Pakistan on Wednesday confirmed that it received over USD 700 million second tranche from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under an existing USD 3 billion bailout package. The loan was part of a USD 3 billion bailout package agreed towards June last year when Pakistan was slowly drifting towards default. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) confirmed in a statement that it has received SDR 528 million (equivalent to $705.6 million) in value 16th January 2024 from IMF following successful completion of the first review by the Executive Board of IMF under Stand By Arrangement (SBA)." It further said that the disbursement will be reflected in SBP reserves for the week ending on January 19, 2024. The handing over of around $700 million brings the total disbursements under the SBA with the IMF to $1.9 billion, while another $1.1 billion will be provided in April as the two sides are set to complete the nine month program. The ...

Rates to stay higher, battle against inflation not yet over: IMF's Gopinath

Affirming that the fight against price rise is not yet over, IMF's Gita Gopinath on Tuesday said interest rates are likely to stay higher than during the period immediately after the global financial crisis. There are expectations though that it will come down sometime this year, the International Monetary Fund's First Deputy Managing Director said. Speaking at a session during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2024 here, Gopinath dismissed the market bets for a cut in interest rates as premature. "The markets are expecting central banks to cut rates pretty aggressively. I think that's a bit premature to make that conclusion. "We should expect rates to come down some time this year but based on the data we see right now, we expect this to be more likely in the second half of this year," she said. She also felt that chances of a deep recession were less likely.

Artificial intelligence will affect almost 40% of global jobs, says IMF

AI's income inequality effect will largely depend on how much the technology complements high earners

40% of global employment could be disrupted by Artificial Intelligence: IMF

IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva raised concerns over the potential deepening of inequality and urged governments to take proactive measures during a Sunday blog post

IMF approves $700 mn second tranche of $3 bn package for Pakistan

Ahead of the next month's elections, the IMF on Thursday approved a USD 700 million loan tranche for cash-strapped Pakistan under an existing USD 3 billion bailout package after completing its first review of the country's economic reform programme. The Ministry of Finance announced the completion of the first review by the Executive Board of the Washington-based International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Dawn newspaper reported. A mission from the Washington-based global lender reviewed the country's economic performance during the first three months of the fiscal year from July to September, 2023. The completion of the review allows for an immediate disbursement of USD 700 million in Special Drawing Rights (SDR), bringing the total disbursements under the Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) to USD 1.9 billion, the ministry said in a statement. The initial tranche of USD 1.2 billion of the current IMF programme --amounting to USD 3 billion-- was released in July 2023. The other two tranches