The IMF has never been this busy: IMF lending to struggling economies has climbed to a record high, with total loans — including those not yet disbursed — already at over USD 268 bn, the Financial Times reports. The fallout from the Russia-Ukraine war, the pandemic and a surge in interest rates globally have forced at least five countries into default, with others expected to follow.

That’s not including countries — like Egypt — that are in negotiations with the Fund: Egypt, Tunisia, Ghana and Bangladesh are among the countries in talks with the IMF for emergency loans, leaving the Fund needing to sign off on tens of bns of USD in fresh lending.

Sri Lanka has begun talks with its creditors on a restructuring agreement that the country hopes will pave the way to unlocking its USD 2.9 bn IMF bailout by mid-December, the Financial Times reports. The bulk of Sri Lanka’s USD 50 bn debt is owed to private creditors, while the country also owes money to countries including Japan, China, and India. Debt restructuring is a key condition of the bailout package Sri Lanka agreed with the IMF several weeks ago, after it defaulted on its external debt in May amid the country’s worst economic crisis in over seven decades.

MEANWHILE- One LNG cargo is better than nothing, but German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will have left the Gulf disappointed yesterday having failed to secure new long-term gas supplies as the country heads into winter without Russian hydrocarbons. After visiting the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia over the weekend, Scholz left with a single 137k cbm LNG shipment, which Adnoc will deliver early next year. The Emirati company also signed an MoU to make more deliveries next year but it’s not clear how much gas it’s going to ship or over what time frame.