Prime Minister to call British counterpart to discuss assistance

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will this week call his British counterpart Boris Johnson to discuss possible assistance to Sri Lanka to overcome the current economic crisis, a senior official said.
 
The move is a part of an ongoing international campaign to obtain assistance from foreign countries.
 
Last week the Prime Minister spoke to USAID Administrator Samantha Powers who pledged support and assured to work closely with other stakeholders such as the IMF, the World Bank and G7 to support Sri Lanka and the urgent need of the hour.
 
The official said that Sri Lanka was looking at raising 4.5 billion US dollars for a ‘bridging finance’ programme until an economic adjustment programme with the IMF could be finalized.
 
He said that the Prime Minister was also continuing his meetings with the diplomatic community-based in Colombo on possible assistance. 
 
He said that Prime minister Wickremesinghe also has instructed officials to revive an offer by China to provide Diesel as emergency supplies and also renegotiate loans.
 
This was after it was brought to the attention of the Prime Minister that some of the offers by China had been ignored before Mr Wickremesinghe took office.