Clearing the hardest hurdle for securing a loan of USD 2.9-billion bailout package from the IMF, President Ranil Wickremesinghe informed Sri Lanka’s Parliament on Monday evening that China had given assurance that it would back the island country’s debt restructuring. Making a special address in Parliament, the President said that the EXIM Bank of China last night handed over a new letter of assurance pertaining to Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring, according to Newswire. He further stated that a letter of intent signed by himself and the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka was thereafter immediately handed over to the IMF. “We have completed our responsibilities. Now, I hope the IMF will do their part by the 3rd or 4th week of this month,” President Wickremesinghe said, adding this will enable the first round of funds from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank to be issued to Sri Lanka.