By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Saturday stated that an accord with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bail out fund for his country has now been pushed back to September due to the unrest over the past weeks.
Wickremesinghe, in his first speech since he was elected by Parliament, said even though while he was the Prime Minister, he had hoped to reach an agreement by early August.
He said the deal has now been pushed back by a month.
Wickremesinghe was appointed after former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, was ousted on July 13.
The discussions with IMF began in April, under Rajapaksa.
The finance ministry on Friday said Sri Lanka had resumed bailout discussions with IMF after the new government came on board and talks were highly successful.
The country has $12 billion overseas debt with private creditors.
