Basil says Sri Lanka is 'trying all options' to avoid the default

Sri Lanka is negotiating debt relief with international bondholders and is weighing an approach to the IMF, as the country struggles with a foreign reserve crisis that has left it close to default, the Financial Times reported.

 

Basil Rajapaksa, finance minister, told the Financial Times in an interview that the government was “negotiating with everybody” and “trying all our options” to avoid default and alleviate the economic crisis.

 

Sri Lanka has almost $7bn in debt payments due this year but less than $3bn of foreign reserves. Some Sri Lankan officials have insisted that the country can avoid this fate by boosting foreign currency reserves through tourism and exports while securing additional assistance from China and India, two of its largest benefactors.

 

Asked if he was negotiating a restructuring with bondholders, Rajapaksa replied, “something like that”.