Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki (center) speaks with his staff before attending the G20 Finance Ministers Meeting in Nusa Dua, on Indonesia resort island of Bali, on July 16, 2022. (SONNY TUMBELAKA / POOL / AFP)

TOKYO - Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki on Friday urged all creditor nations to discuss Sri Lanka's debt restructuring, after the crisis-hit South Asian nation reached a loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund.

Sri Lanka has reached a preliminary agreement with the IMF for a loan of about US$2.9 billion, the global lender said on Thursday, as the country seeks a way out of its worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1948

"It's important for all creditor nations to gather to discuss Sri Lanka's debt restructuring," Suzuki told a news conference.

ALSO READ: IMF provisionally agrees on US$2.9b loan for Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has reached a preliminary agreement with the IMF for a loan of about US$2.9 billion, the global lender said on Thursday, as the country seeks a way out of its worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1948.