Colombo: Sri Lanka's central bank yesterday announced plans to raise $2.5bn in foreign loans, a month after Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said the country was struggling under a "gigantic debt trap".
The nation is struggling to repay billions of dollars borrowed by its previous government for white-elephant projects. Central bank Governor Indrajith Coomaraswamy told reporters the country will issue $1.5bn in sovereign bonds and raise another $1bn through a syndicated loan. "In the coming months the government intends to raise a syndicated loan and there is a cabinet paper (seeking formal approval) to issue the international sovereign bonds," he said. The previous government took Chinese loans to build a deep-sea port at Hambantota in the south of the country and an international airport in the same area.
Only one airline operates to the airport while only a handful of ships call at the port every month.
