The News Journal

 Sri Lanka, which is grappling with ballooning liabilities and soaring inflation amid its worst economic crisis in decades, needs to restructure its debt, analysts have said. The South Asian country's debt is unsustainable, making restructuring necessary even if it secures an International Monetary Fund-backed loan programme in impending talks, Patrick Curran, senior economist at Tellimer Research, said in a note on March 29. "A debt restructuring is inevitable even if Sri Lanka secures an IMF programme, as it will be unable to credibly place debt on a sustainable path without restructuring (and thus will have to restructure its debt to unlock IMF support, given its policy against lending to countries with an unsustainable debt burden)," Mr Curran said. Protesters have taken to the streets across the Sri Lanka against the severe economic crisis, leading President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to declare a state of emergency and impose a nationwide curfew. The debt-laden country is f...

 Sri Lanka faces “solvency” issues because of risks stemming from unsustainable debt levels that jeopardise the nation’s economy, the International Monetary Fund has said. “Based on staff analysis, the fiscal consolidation necessary to bring debt down to safe levels would require excessive adjustment over the coming years, pointing to a clear solvency problem,” the IMF said in its Article IV consultation report, released in Washington on Friday. The full report provides further analysis of the South Asian island nation’s debt and finances. A summary of the document released earlier this month said Sri Lanka faced unsustainable debt levels and needed a “credible and coherent” strategy to restore stability. The country’s “debt overhang”, along with persistent fiscal and balance-of-payments shortfalls, “will constrain growth and jeopardise macroeconomic stability in both the near and medium term”, the report said. “Rollover risk is very high,” the IMF said. “[Foreign] debt service nee...