"Sri Lanka is not alone in the debt issue" - G24 Director

COLOMBO (News 1st); The G24 said that as many of its member countries are facing situations that are similar to Sri Lanka, and thus it is monitoring developments in the island nation very closely. 

Dr. Iyabo Masha, the Director of G24 Secretariat speaking EXCLUSIVELY to News 1st on the sidelines of the IMF, World Bank Annual Meetings in Marrakech, Morocco on Tuesday (10), pointed put that there is more to be done, despite Sri Lanka reaching an agreement with regard to some of its debt, earlier on the year.

"The debt that comes under the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable is still outstanding, and the progress in that area is not as fast as the progress on using some of the common framework type policies to reduce the debt burden," she said.

One of Sri Lanka's major creditors', China, is in the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable, and the Director of the G24 Secretariat believes that along with the other major creditors, the roundtable would result in a faster progress by the end of the year.

"Sri Lanka is not alone on this issue. The middle-income countries in general seem to be facing a different type of challenge for debt resolution. That is why at the G24 we have been calling on the IMF and the World Bank to come up with a framework that better suits the challenges and the needs of middle income countries," she pointed out.