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SL’s External Debt up by US$ 3.1b in 2014- CB Report
View(s):Sri Lanka’s External Debt increased to US$ 43 billion at the end of 2014, up from US$ 39.9 billion in 2013, according to the Annual Report of the Central Bank tabled in Parliament this week. The Report signed by new Central Bank Governor Arjun Mahendran said the increase was mainly due to the issuance of the 6th and 7th internationally Sovereign Bonds amounting to US$ 1.5 billion, which included the international Bond issuance of NSB for US$ 250 million and SriLankan Airlines for US$ 175 million.
The Report said that, under the approved international Sovereign Bond programme for 2014, the Government issued US$ 1 billion worth of international Sovereign Bonds with a 5-year maturity at a yield of 6% per annum in January last year. Subsequently, its remainder of US$ 500 million was raised in April 2014 at a yield of 5.125% per annum.
“This was the lowest rate among all offerings by Sri Lanka in the international Bond market,” the Report said.
Sri Lanka’s External Debt portfolio consisted primarily of long term foreign loans amounting to 83.1% of the total debt as at end 2014.- (CK)