Top bankers confident govt has taken the right approach to repaying foreign debt

by Sanath Nanayakkare

The government has succeeded in its public debt management programme with several initiatives and it would meet its foreign debt repayment obligations in the future too, S. Renganathan, MD/ CEO, Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC said on Wednesday at a virtual forum hosted by CT CLSA on the banking sector in Sri Lanka.

Responding to a question from the audience he said,” There may be concern in some quarters, but the government will definitely honour its commitments.”

When a similar question was posed at Jonathan Alles, MD/ CEO of Hatton National Bank at the same forum, he said,” I appreciate the way the government is handling repayment of foreign debt. The $1.5 billion currency swap deal with China, the agreement with China Development Bank for a loan of USD 500 million and Korea Eximbank financing for US$ 500 million etc. show that the government is working on its programme to meet foreign debt servicing on time”.

He further said that international credit agencies jumped the gun on unnecessary hype when they downgraded Sri Lanka’s credit ratings, and therefore the current ratings are not reflective of the true fiscal status of the country.