Residents queue for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Tuesday, April 12, 2022. Sri Lanka warned of an unprecedented default and halted payments on foreign debt, an extraordinary step taken to preserve its dwindling dollar stockpile for essential food and fuel imports. 
Read more: Hunger and Blackouts Are the Start of an Emerging Economy Crisis
About $500 million of the total funds sought by Sri Lanka is expected to come as emergency aid from the Asian Development Bank and World Bank in the next six months, Sabry said.
The IMF has said its rapid aid depends on progress on debt restructuring, but the lender has declined to comment on what represents adequate steps toward developing a credible debt plan.
“Our talks have been centered around restructuring, and along with that to go forward for a proper program with the IMF,” Sabry said. An IMF program “requires debt restructuring when they come to the finding that it is not sustainable in the long run.”
While the IMF’s board could approve release of funds earlier if necessary, a first step along that path will be for the country to appoint advisers to chart the restructuring and payments of debts. That’s accompanied by fiscal reforms and other points, to meet the requirements of traditional multilateral lenders like the IMF and WB.
A comprehensive aid package from the IMF may require about six months, Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris said earlier on Wednesday in Colombo.
Sabry is in Washington with other officials seeking emergency funds during the so-called spring meetings of the IMF and World Bank. He added in the interview that Sri Lanka has been contacted by “a couple” of creditors, and that he also plans further talks with officials from the U.S., Japan, India and China, among others.
“It’s early days,” he said. BM