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Sri Lankan officials meet creditors, Chinese Finance Minister calls President
View(s):The first round of talks was held on Thursday in Washington DC between a Sri Lanka delegation and a select group of sovereign bond holders, to whom the country owes nearly USD 13 billion, according to reports reaching Colombo.
The Sri Lanka team was led by Central Bank Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe and Treasury Secretary Mahinda Siriwardene. They were assisted by financial and legal advisers Lazard and Clifford Chase. They are in the US capital to attend the annual sessions of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring effort is key to the IMF Extended Fund Facility worth USD 2.9 billion worked out at staff-level with the IMF in September.
According to wire-reports the creditors who joined in the talks with Governor Weerasinghe and Secretary Siriwardene were HBK Capital Management, Black Rock, Amudi Asset Management and T. Rowe Price Associates Inc, with other private sovereign bond holders participating virtually.
Also on Thursday, China’s Finance Minister Liu Kun called President Ranil Wickremesinghe to convey Beijing’s willingness to continue debt restructuring talks.
Meanwhile, the same Sri Lankan delegation met the Governor of the Bangladesh Bank on the sidelines of the World Bank/IMF sessions. Bangladesh said it was “hopeful” Sri Lanka would repay the debt of $200 million that it owes to Bangladesh by March 2023.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Bangladesh central bank Governor Abdur Rouf Talukder said, “We [Bangladesh] gave $200 million to Sri Lanka under a currency swap agreement. But due to Sri Lanka’s economic crisis, they could not return the money on time.”
Bangladesh twice extended the deadline for repayment on Sri Lanka’s request, Mr. Talukder noted. “Sri Lanka is supposed to return it in three instalments in February and March 2023.”
Central Bank Governors from Commonwealth countries also held a meeting on Friday.
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