Ranil Wickremesinghe
Pic by Pradeep PathiranA

By Yohan Perera in Kataragama 

 The government will work towards raising up to US$ 500 million in order to tap the Japanese bond market by selling yen-denominated Samurai bonds, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said over the weekend. 

Speaking during the opening of the new Divisional Secretariat office in Kataragama, Wickremesinghe said Sri Lanka is now able to borrow and settle its debt unlike in the past. 
“When we took over the government in 2015, the economy was in shambles and the country was not able to borrow a cent. Our government also faced challenges. Many thought the economy will go down after the Easter Sunday attacks. 

“However we were able to generate billions of dollars from a sovereign bond issue recently. We will go to the Japanese bond market shortly,” he stressed. 

Meanwhile, Wickremesinghe said the bill to establish Southern Development Corporation has been approved by the Cabinet and that it will be presented to parliament soon. 

“This legislation will make provisions for the setting up of a body to manage industrial zones that will be sent up in the South,” he said. 

At the same time he said the civil aviation authorities of Sri Lanka and India are currently engaged in a dialogue to form a joint venture to run the Mattala airport. He said plans are afoot to get Indian airline companies to operate through the airport.