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China Faces Twin Pressure From U.S., IMF Over Debt Crisis in Sri Lanka

by Eric Olander
USAID Administrator Samantha Power singled out China in a speech in India on Wednesday for its failure to do more to resolve the burgeoning financial crisis in Sri Lanka. Tony KARUMBA / AFP

The Chinese government is under mounting pressure from both the United States and the International Monetary Fund to do more to help resolve the worsening debt crisis in Sri Lanka.

Colombo owes Beijing an estimated $6.5 billion, about 13% of the country’s total public debt, and even though that amount is significantly less than what Sri Lanka owes to other creditors, Washington’s top aid official Samantha Power and the IMF’s lead representative for the Asia-Pacific region both singled out China as key to resolving the crisis:

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