- New stadium gives Real Madrid a headache
- Alonso, Manaea shine as 'Miracle Mets' blitz Phillies
- Harris, Trump trade blows in US election media blitz
- Harry's Bar in Paris drinks to US straw-poll centenary
- Osama bin Laden's son Omar banned from returning to France
- Afghan man arrested for plotting US election day attack
- Brazil lifts ban on Musk's X, ending standoff over disinformation
- Harris holds slight edge nationally over Trump: poll
- Chelsea edge Real Madrid in Women's Champions League, Lyon win
- Japan PM to dissolve parliament for 'honeymoon' snap election
- 'Diego Lives': Immersive Maradona exhibit hits Barcelona
- Brazil Supreme Court lifts ban on Musk's X
- Scientists sound AI alarm after winning physics Nobel
- Six-year-old girl among missing after Brazil landslide
- Nobel-winning physicist 'unnerved' by AI technology he helped create
- Mexico president rules out new 'war on drugs'
- Israeli defense minister postpones trip to Washington: Pentagon
- Europe skipper Donald in talks with Garcia over Ryder return
- Kenya MPs vote to impeach deputy president in historic move
- Former US coach Berhalter named Chicago Fire head coach
- New York Jets fire head coach Saleh: team
- Australia crush New Zealand in Women's T20 World Cup
- US states accuse TikTok of harming young users
- 'Evacuate now, now, now': Florida braces for next hurricane
- US Supreme Court skeptical of challenge to 'ghost guns' regulation
- Sparks fly as Orban berates EU 'elites' in parliament trip
- US finalizes rule to remove lead pipes within a decade
- Solanke hungry for second England cap after seven-year wait
- Gilded canopy restored at Vatican basilica
- Zverev scrapes through, Djokovic cruises to Shanghai Masters last 16
- Trump secretly sent Covid tests to Putin: Bob Woodward book
- Gauff answers critics: 'It's hard to win all the time'
- Neural networks, machine learning? Nobel-winning AI science explained
- China says raised 'serious concerns' with US over trade curbs
- Boeing delivers 27 MAX jets in September despite strike
- German 'Maddie' suspect could be free in 2025 after cleared of other sex crimes
- Italy seek Nations League consistency as Germany continue rebuild
- From boom to budgeting as reality bites for Saudi football
- Stock markets diverge as Hong Kong sinks, oil prices fall
- US trade gap narrowest in five months as imports slip
- Stay and 'you are going to die': Florida braces for next hurricane
- England 96-1 after Salman's century lifts Pakistan to 556
- Hollywood star Idris Elba champions African cinema in Ghana
- Djokovic rolls Cobolli to make Shanghai Masters last 16
- Milan's Hernandez receives two-game suspension after referee rant
- Geoffrey Hinton, soft-spoken godfather of AI
- Ex-Barcelona and Spain great Iniesta retires aged 40
- Duo wins Physics Nobel for 'foundational' AI breakthroughs
- German 'Maddie' suspect could be free in 2025 after cleared of separate sex crimes
- China slaps provisional tariffs on EU brandy imports
Crisis-hit Sri Lanka says IMF bailout three months away
An International Monetary Fund bailout package for crisis-hit Sri Lanka could take up to three months to arrive, the country's central bank chief said on Friday, as anti-government protests over the economic crisis continue to escalate.
The island nation of 22 million people has been rocked by months of acute food, fuel and medicine shortages, prompting widespread protests calling for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign.
Central bank chief Nanadalal Weerasinghe said he was hopeful of a staff-level agreement with the IMF within two months, but a final deal would take another three weeks.
"The key objective is to achieve debt sustainability before an IMF program," Weerasinghe said, adding that experts will be named shortly to renegotiate Sri Lanka's external debt estimated at $51 billion.
Two weeks ago, Sri Lanka announced it was defaulting on its foreign debt after running out of foreign exchange to import even the most essential supplies.
Weerasinghe told reporters in Colombo that he expected about $3.0 billion from an eventual International Monetary Fund program, but the country would first have to carry out painful reforms.
"The current tax structure is not sustainable. We must go back at least to the level of taxation we had before 2019," he said, referring to a series of tax breaks implemented by Rajapaksa in an election pledge that propelled him to power in November 2019, but devastated state revenue.
Official data released Friday showed year-on-year inflation at 29.8 percent in April, a seventh consecutive record-high -- five times above the 5.7 percent in September.
Weerasinghe warned inflation could jump even more as fuel and food prices increased sharply with the local currency losing over 40 percent of its value in a month.
Census and statistics department figures showed food inflation in April was also a record 46.6 percent higher, up from 30.2 percent in March and 9.0 percent a year ago.
Under pressure, the president has reportedly told dissidents within his coalition government that he is willing to consider forming a unity government but the opposition has refused to join an administration with the powerful Rajapaksa family still in power.
The President has meanwhile told legislators that neither he nor his elder brother Mahinda, the prime minister, will step down as demanded by anti-government demonstrators across the country.
Millions of state and private-sector workers staged a crippling strike on Thursday -- bringing the entire country to a standstill for the first time since demonstrations began -- adding pressure on the Rajapaksas to quit over corruption and mismanagement.
-No new loans-
The president announced Tuesday that the World Bank had agreed to grant $600 million to alleviate the economic crisis.
But the international lender on Friday denied finalising any fresh loans.
A World Bank spokesperson told AFP that talks were underway to "leverage" money from ongoing projects and "repurpose" them to buy medicines and food for school children.
A total of $10 million from the ongoing Covid-19 project were "being released directly to suppliers" for the immediate purchase of essential medicines and medical supplies to address acute shortages in the country, the spokesperson said.
L.Harper--AMWN