IMF delegation to visit crisis-hit Sri Lanka this month for talks - Reuters.com

People stand in line to buy domestic gas tanks near a distributor, amid the country's economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, June 1, 2022. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte

COLOMBO, June 10 (Reuters) - An International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation will visit Sri Lanka on June 20 for talks as the country looks for a loan programme from the lender to deal with its worst economic crisis in seven decades, the prime minister's office said on Friday.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe "was hopeful that a staff-level agreement would be reached by the end of the month," his office said in a statement.

The island nation of 22 million people is grappling with shortages of essentials, including fuel, cooking gas and medicines, after it ran out of foreign currency for even basic imports.

Reporting by Uditha Jayasinghe, Writing by Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by Toby Chopra

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