Sri Lanka has been seeking $3 billion to $4 billion in assistance this year, Finance Minister Ali Sabri said, as the island country is set to start talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) next week amid the unprecedented economic crisis.

In an interview to Bloomberg, Sabri confirmed he will start talks with the global lender in Washington on Monday and is expecting emergency assistance in a week's time. For weeks now, the country has been going through a crippling shortage of fuel, food, and medicines.

“Our appeal to them is to release it as soon as possible,” said Sabri, who was appointed as the country’s finance minister a few days back. He acknowledged that the country is facing a herculean task of pulling itself out of the crisis that has hit hard almost every section of society.

“What we have very categorically stated, across the board, is that we will honor our debt,” he said. “The commitment is there, the desire is there, but we don’t immediately have the funds to disburse.”

Additionally, the government is also looking for bridge financing from other sources, including India and China. Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing five sources, that India was considering extending another $2 billion to Sri Lanka.

“We are definitely looking to help them out and are willing to offer more swap lines and loans,” Reuters quoted a senior government source. “We can still give them up to $2 billion in swaps and support,” another source said.

Significantly, Sri Lankan envoy to New Delhi Milinda Moragoda on Wednesday met Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

They “discussed how India could assist Sri Lanka in garnering international support to secure bridging finance and for the economic adjustment program itself, through both bilateral and multilateral partners,” said a statement released by the Sri Lanka High Comissionion in New Delhi.

“They explored the possibility of enhancing and restructuring some of the assistance already provided by India in the form of credits for essential commodities and fuel as well as the balance of payment support,” the statement added.

So far New Delhi has extended $2.4 billion in assistance in form of currency, lines of credit for imports of fuel and food, and other essentials. If another $2 billion in assistance materialize, total assistance would be around $4.4 billion, making it New Delhi’s the most ambitious effort to help a crisis-hit neighbor.

(SAM)