Sri Lanka hopes to declare out of bankruptcy by Q1 2024 says Minister
By Shihar Aneez
COLOMBO – Sri Lanka is engaging with its private bondholders and is expected to complete the agreement by the end of the March quarter of 2024, State Finance Minister Shehan Semasinghe said.
The bankrupted island nation has already concluded domestic debt restructuring and has a deal with its bilateral creditors.
However, it is yet to reach a consensus on the debt restructuring with sovereign bondholders, who had lent over $25 billion before Sri Lanka declared default in April 2022.
Semasinghe on Thursday (14) said Sri Lanka would start more than 200 foreign-funded projects in the first quarter of 2024. Foreign funding agencies have suspended all loans to Sri Lanka until it starts repayment of past external borrowing.
“I think we are almost there,” Semasinghe told reporters when asked if he was signalling the declaration of the country coming out of bankruptcy.
“By the first quarter, we will conclude the MOUs,” he said referring to striking a deal with private or sovereign bondholders.
“Now we are engaging with bondholders and they are also engaging with interest to conclude it as early as possible,” he said, adding that the government expects to come into to a resolution with bondholders as early as possible and that the bond holders had shown positive signs of coming into a debt resolution with Sri Lanka.
-economynext.com
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