Sri lanka looks to imf for help as debt burden climbs.

Sri Lanka's two-week-old government plans to start discussions with the International Monetary Fund on reducing a debt burden that grew under the previous administration, Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said. Karunanayake, who will meet IMF officials today, said in an interview late yesterday that President Maithripala Sirisena wanted to reduce interest costs on the island nation's 7.2 trillion rupees ($55 billion) in total debt. [Extracted from the article]