Japan is set to allow Sri Lanka, which suffered severe damage in last year's tsunami, to defer debt repayments of around $170 million until next December, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday. The deferment, agreed in Colombo on Tuesday, allows repayments of the debt due by the end of this year to begin on Dec. 1, 2006, the ministry said in a statement. Payments will take place in seven installments. The debt relief is in line with an agreement made by the Paris Club of major creditor nations to allow nations hit by the Dec. 26 tsunami to defer debt payments, Reuters reported. ($1=119.76 Yen)
