Exclusive-Crisis-hit Sri Lanka strikes staff-level pact with IMF on loan -sources

FILE PHOTO: People, including farmers, queue up outside a fuel station, amid the country's worst economic crisis, in Kilinochchi district, Sri Lanka July 28, 2022. REUTERS/ Devjyot Ghoshal

COLOMBO (Reuters) -Sri Lanka and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have reached a preliminary agreement on an emergency loan to the crisis-hit country and a formal announcement will be made on Thursday, four sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The island nation, struggling with its worst economic crisis in more than seven decades, had sought up to $3 billion from the IMF.