China expresses support for Sri Lanka ahead of debt meeting

BEIJING (AP) — China expressed support for Sri Lanka ahead of a meeting Friday of government lenders to poor economies but did not say if it would help reduce a multibillion-dollar debt that has plunged the Indian Ocean nation into financial and political turmoil.

Beijing is one of Sri Lanka's biggest creditors after extending it loans under President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, which expands trade by building ports and other facilities across Asia and Africa. China has offered a two-year suspension of repayments but balked at reducing the amount owed. That is an obstacle to obtaining an emergency loan from the International Monetary Fund, which wants creditors to agree to debt reductions.

Chinese officials are due to attend a meeting of lenders organized by the IMF and the Paris Club of government creditors. The IMF's managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, said last month the agency was talking with Beijing about ways of “reducing the burden of debt.”

The Paris Club, after announcing last week its assurances on working with Sri Lanka, said, “The Paris Club members as well as Hungary and Saudi Arabia urged other official bilateral creditors, including China, to do the same in line with IMF program parameters as soon as possible.”