IMF approves $2.9b bailout for Sri Lanka

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a $2.9 billion bailout for Sri Lanka which will overall give it access up to $7 billion in funding, president Ranil Wickremesinghe's office said on Monday.

The IMF program will help improve the cash-strapped country's standing in international capital markets, the president's office said in a statement, potentially helping it emerge from its worst financial crisis in over seven decades.

The IMF did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Wickremesinghe told parliament earlier in March the IMF deal was crucial to ensure other creditors could also release funds.

Sri Lanka, which has been facing shortages of food, fuel and medicines, has been waiting for about 200 days for approval of the loan, mostly due to IMF concerns over the quality of the initial financing assurances offered by China and other bilateral creditors, and its insistence on painful reforms.

Central bank Governor P Nandalal Weerasinghe said earlier that Sri Lanka had fulfilled its conditions with the rate hike and he was hopeful the IMF bailout would be approved this month.