A Sri Lankan delegation travels to Washington to secure up to $4 billion in funding from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other lenders to help the island nation pay for food and fuel imports and limit debt defaults.

The team led by newly appointed Finance Minister Ali Sabry aims to begin talks with the lender on April 18 and secure aid as early as possible after negotiations. “We need immediate funding to get Sri Lanka back on track. Our appeal to the IMF is to release it as soon as possible. With all their expertise, we are looking at putting up a good case for us, which will preserve the Sri Lankan economy,” Sabry said.

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It will be a challenging task for Sri Lanka to raise the finances needed to tide over a balance of payments crisis this year. The last time IMF extended help to Sri Lanka was in 2016, the loan was capped at $1.5 billion, and the program was terminated prematurely after disbursing $1.3 billion. That was when Sri Lanka’s economy was growing at about 5 per cent and tourism accounted for 5 per cent of gross domestic product.