COLOMBO – Sri Lanka has started to repay a swap with the Bangladesh central bank from which 200 million US dollars was borrowed during the worst currency crisis in the island’s history.
Sri Lanka’s central bank has repaid 50 million dollars on August 17, Bangladesh’s The Daily Star Newspaper reported.
Bangladesh expects the next instalment within two weeks, the newspaper said.
“We are hopeful that the entire amount will be cleared by September,” the newspaper quoted Md Mezbaul Haque, spokesman for the Bangladeshi Central Bank as saying.
Initially, Sri Lanka was supposed to repay the amount within three months.
Bangladesh lent the money to Sri Lanka in three instalments in 2021, with the first trench of 50 million sent on August 19, 2021 and the 2nd instalment of 100 million dollars and a final 50 million dollars in September.
Sri Lanka was to repay the loan by the end of 2021, with an interest rate of LIBOR + 2%.
During the economic crisis, the repayment was extended multiple times. The final extension to September this year was made in May 2022, with the interest rate fixed at LIBOR + 2.5%.
Sri Lanka’s central bank in the course of mis-targeting, not only ran down its own reserves and printed money to prevent rates from going up (sterilized interventions) but also borrowed money from elsewhere and ran them down.
-economynext.com
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.