Bond sale on despite opposition

Despite skepticism by economists and various threats by the opposition parties, Central Bank officials this week launched road shows in the US on Sri Lanka’s first international bond sale.

Senior officials said the regulator team together with Governor, Nivard Cabraal, Deputy Governor Ranee Jayamaha and Director-General Public Debt, C.J. Siriwardena are in Washington to raise as much as US$ 500 million. “They started the road shows,” a senior official told The Sunday Times FT. He said that the sale will start after Barclays Capital, HSBC Holdings Plc and J. P. Morgan Chase and Co. begins marketing the issue in Asia, Europe and the U.S.

The bond issue got on the road just as Fitch Ratings Sri Lanka said the opposition was unlikely to ‘wilfully’ default on loan repayment, despite its threat.

“The government has stated that the bond has been properly authorised and Fitch currently judges that any future UNP administration would not wilfully default,” it said in a release in which it also said it was assigning a ‘BB- (BB minus) rating for the sovereign bond.