Crisis-hit Sri Lanka opens IMF talks, begins a two-week shutdown

Sri Lanka closed schools and halted non-essential government services on Monday, starting a two-week shutdown to conserve fast-depleting fuel reserves as an International Monetary Fund (IMF) team began bailout talks in the island nation.

Many protesters accuse President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his influential family of mishandling the economy.

Sri Lanka suspended payment on $12 billion of foreign debt in April and is seeking up to $3 billion from the IMF to put its public finances on track and access bridge financing.

A nine-member IMF team, which arrived in the commercial capital Colombo on Monday, held talks with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on how