IMF offers Sri Lanka provisional $2.9bn loan to tackle debt crisis

Funding still needs to be approved but could offer breathing space amid country's economic turmoil

The International Monetary Fund has tentatively offered Sri Lanka a $2.9bn (2.5bn) loan to help the country recover from the worst economic crisis since it gained independence from Britain in 1948.

The funding is meant to provide some breathing space for Sri Lanka, which is scrambling to restructure nearly $30bn in debt to creditors including China, India and a string of international banks.