China Piled On Debt As Sri Lanka Sank: WSJ

Jonathan Cheng is the China bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal has published a highly critical account of China’s involvement in Sri Lanka’s debt crisis. It quotes current and former Sri Lankan officials claiming that China discouraged them from seeking an early IMF bailout, offering loans for liquidity support instead.

The choice to hold off on reaching out to the IMF meant that the country ended up using much-needed foreign reserves to repay loans:

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by Cobus van Staden

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