Sri Lanka’s new president took office with a mandate to bring relief to citizens still burdened by the remnants of the country’s worst-ever economic crisis. Now comes the hard part: Getting the lenders to play along.

The International Monetary Fund said on Thursday it was already communicating with Sri Lanka's new economic team. "We are discussing the next steps for engagement" IMF Senior Mission Chief for Sri Lanka Peter Breuer said in an emailed statement,

Sri Lanka’s new President Anura Kumara Dissanayake says that he will soon resume discussions with the International Monetary Fund and foreign creditors to plot a way out of the worst economic crisis in the country’s history.