Sri Lanka risks not receiving aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) if the government fails to repay debts to multilateral organizations, former Finance Minister Ali Sabry, PC said.
Sabry told Parliament that although through debt restructuring the government can delay International Sovereign Bond payments and bilateral loans, it should honour the commitments to multilateral organisations. He said Sri Lanka must find a total of US$ 6 billion this year to repay loans.
Sabry added that US$ 78 million was needed to repay a loan on the 18th of last month and another US$ 105 million to repay a loan from a Chinese bank, adding that the government was compelled to go for a soft default, since they could not source funds to repay debts. He said Sri Lanka will have to face this debt issue throughout the year and therefore called on all Parliamentarians to work together to overcome the crisis at hand.
Add new comment