China becomes wild card in Sri Lanka’s debt crisis – by BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI China says its initiative to build ports and other infrastructure across Asia and Africa, paid for with Chinese loans, will boost trade Source:abcnews.go.com COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — China says its initiative to build ports and other infrastructure across Asia and Africa, paid for with Chinese loans, will boost trade. But in a cautionary tale for borrowers, Sri Lanka’s multibillion-dollar debt to Beijing threatens to hinder efforts to resolve a financial crisis so severe that the Indian Ocean nation cannot import food or gasoline. Sri Lanka’s struggle is extreme, but it reflects conditions across dozens of countries from South Pacific islands through some of the poorest in Asia and Africa that have signed onto Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative. The total debt of poor countries is rising, raising risks others might run into trouble. Sri Lanka’s 22 ...
May 21, 2022
Posted
Articles
Tagged Asian Development Bank, China Merchants Group, Chinese President, Colombo, European Union, foreign currency, IMF, Indian Ocean, Indian Ocean shipping routes, Mahinda Rajapaksa, Nandalal Weerasinghe, Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka cash, Sri Lanka's 22 million people, Sri Lanka’s debt, Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe
