News
Govt. to hold another round of talks with private creditors in Washington
View(s):Private creditors holding US$ 12.5 billion of Sri Lanka’s sovereign debt are expected to hold another round of talks with government officials next week in Washington, reports say.
A first round of talks in late March in London between the ad hoc group of international sovereign bondholders and the Government of Sri Lanka has ended without an outcome. Citing sources, financial news service Bloomberg said discussions are set to continue around the International Monetary Fund spring meetings in Washington, DC, which start on April 15. Sri Lanka has defaulted on its 12.5 billion-dollar bonds.
The Bondholder Group engages with Sri Lanka through its steering committee, which includes heavyweight BlackRock as well as Morgan Stanley Investment Management and Amundi Asset Management. The bondholders are represented by Rothschild & Co. and White & Case LLP as financial and legal advisers, respectively.
International sovereign bonds are a part of Sri Lanka’s commercial debt and make up 34% of that slice of debt. Commercial debt accounts for 40% of the total external debt of the government.
Multilateral debt, on the other hand, makes up 31 percent of all external debt.
The IMF, which is assisting Sri Lanka with a funding facility, has cautioned that if progress in debt restructuring is slow, it will worsen the balance of payments and create wider financing gaps. The outcome of negotiations with creditors has to be consistent with the IMF programme’s debt targets.
Sri Lanka’s debt was determined to be unsustainable.
Debt service payments on the external public debt were suspended nearly two years ago, on April 12, 2022, by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. Among the ISB debt that was not paid was a US$ 1.25 billion five-year bond with 5.75% annual interest issued on April 18, 2018, maturing on April 18, 2023.
This year, two more bonds are maturing: a US$ 1 billion, five-year, 6.85% coupon bond issued on March 14, 2019, and a US$ 500 million, five-year, 6.35% coupon bond issued on June 28, 2019.
The best way to say that you found the home of your dreams is by finding it on Hitad.lk. We have listings for apartments for sale or rent in Sri Lanka, no matter what locale you're looking for! Whether you live in Colombo, Galle, Kandy, Matara, Jaffna and more - we've got them all!