International Monetary Fund

Sri Lanka must not allow entrenched corruption to undermine a bailout for its bankrupt economy, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said yesterday after signing off on a $3 billion loan for the crisis-hit nation.

The IMF approved its long-delayed rescue program on March 20 after China, the South Asian nation's biggest bilateral lender, offered debt relief assurances.

"Changing the leva-euro exchange rate is impossible". This is stated by the Bulgarian National Bank to National radio, after yesterday information was spread, which is claimed to be from a report of the Ministry of Finance, according to which there is a risk of a change in the exchange rate of the leva against the euro.

"There is no risk of bankruptcy of the state, nor of the intervention of the International Monetary Fund and the need to take out new debt." This was stated on the National Television by the Acting Minister of Finance Rositsa Velkova. Her comment was on the occasion of the two scenarios of the long-term budget forecast leaked to the media yesterday.

Finance Minister Christos Staikouras will be attending the Europgroup and Ecofin meetings in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday, respectively.

Ukraine said on Oct. 13 it had reclaimed more territory in the south and welcomed a Western pledge to deliver air defense systems to Kiev "as fast as we can" after days of intense Russian missile strikes.

A US-led group of around 50 countries held talks at the NATO headquarters in Brussels and vowed to deliver new anti-missile systems to Kiev.

Global growth is expected to slow further next year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said, downgrading its forecasts as countries grapple with the fallout from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, spiraling cost-of-living and economic downturns.

The United States has announced $40 million in aid to buy fertilizer and other key agricultural inputs in time for the next cultivation season in crisis-hit Sri Lanka.

USAID Administrator Samantha Power, who is visiting Sri Lanka, made the announcement after she met farmer representatives in Ja-Ela outside the capital, Colombo.

The International Monetary Fund is facing pressure to reevaluate how it imposes fees on loans it disperses to needy countries like war-torn Ukraine which is one of the fund's biggest borrowers.

The move comes as more countries will need to turn to the IMF, as food prices and inflation internationally continues to rise.

 As Sri Lanka continues to battle its worst financial crisis in seven decades, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has sought urgent credit support to import fuel to the island nation in a telephonic conversation with the Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday (local time).

Argentine economy minister Martin Guzman, who led debt renegotiations with the International Monetary Fund, announced his resignation Saturday, sparking fresh uncertainty in Latin America's third largest economy.