COLOMBO: Sri Lanka must not allow entrenched corruption to undermine a bailout for its bankrupt economy, the IMF said Tuesday after signing off on a $3 billion loan for the crisis-hit nation.

The International Monetary Fund approved its long-delayed rescue programme on Monday after China, the South Asian island’s biggest bilateral lender, offered debt relief assurances. But it said the rescue was conditional on tackling the deep-rooted culture of graft and government mismanagement blamed for tipping Sri Lanka into an unprecedented economic crisis last year.