Sri Lanka president to visit China 

COLOMBO, Jan 7: Sri Lanka's president will travel to the island's largest bilateral lender China next week ahead of his first national budget, the information minister said Tuesday.

The visit comes a month ahead of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake's first budget, which is expected to outline his plans to sustain the country's painful recovery from its worst economic meltdown in 2022.

Dissanayake will begin a three-day visit on January 14, said Nalinda Jayatissa.
It will be his second foreign trip -- after visiting regional powerhouse India last month -- since being elected in September.

China accounted for more than half of Sri Lanka's $14 billion debt borrowed from other governments at the time the island defaulted on its sovereign debt in 2022 when Colombo ran out of foreign exchange to pay for essential imports such as food, fuel and medicines.    —AFP