COLOMBOMARRAKECH, Oct 12 Reuters Sri Lanka said on Thursday it has reached an agreement with the ExportImport Bank of China to cover about 4.2 billion of the island nation39;s outstanding debt while talks with other official creditors stall.

Sri Lanka is struggling with its worst financial crisis in more than seven decades after its foreign exchange dwindled to record lows, forcing the country to default on its foreign debt last May.

China is Sri Lanka39;s largest bilateral creditor, owed about 7 billion.

The agreement with China EXIM Bank will assist Sri Lanka in getting past the first review of the International Monetary Fund MF program in the coming weeks and in securing the release of a second IMF tranche of about 334 million, its finance ministry said in a statement.

A debt rework deal between Sri Lanka and countries including Japan, India and France was also expected this week. But those countries and the IMF were surprised on Tuesday when Sri Lanka struck a deal with China. The three nations request comparability of debt treatment with China.

Sri Lanka39;s creditors are struggling to reach consensus on the nation39;s debt and finding an agreement during this week39;s IMF and World Bank meetings could be difficult, a senior Japanese official said on Wednesday.

Members of the creditor committee now need to see details of the agreement Sri Lanka reached separately with China its largest single creditor before finalizing their proposal, said a source with…