Sabry tells foreign media that Sri Lanka needs about $ 3 billion to avert a crisis

Sri Lanka will need about $3 billion in external assistance over the next six months to help restore supplies of essential items including fuel and medicine, Finance Minister Ali Sabry told Reuters on Saturday.

“It’s a Herculean task,” said Sabry in his first interview since taking office this week, referring to finding $3 billion in bridge financing as the country readies for negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) this month.

“The entire effort is not to go for a hard default,” Sabry said. The country has $12.6 billion in outstanding international sovereign bonds, central bank data showed, and foreign reserves of $1.9 billion at the end of March.

The IMF said on Saturday that it had started technical-level engagement with Sri Lanka’s finance ministry and central bank officials for a loan programme, and was “very concerned” about the ongoing crisis.