New avenues explored by govt. to raise inflows for debt repayment: Cabraal

•  Says plans afoot to capitalise on underused assets to raise at least US$ 400 mn
•  Exports another area of focus
•  Confident in the ability of raising US$ 1bn if on the right track

Determined to have no default in debt repayment, the government shared it will turn to the underused assets under its ownership to generate the required finances to iron out what seems to be a never ending debt crisis.
State Minister of Finance, Capital Markets and State Enterprise Reforms Ajith Nivard Cabraal told American news channel CNBC last Friday (13) that plans are afoot to capitalise on the underused assets so that a sum of approximately US$ 400 million could be 

 raised to assist the government’s efforts in settling the mounting debt situation.

Pointing out that the government is looking at “new areas”, Cabraal said relevant authorities are “very efficiently” attending to utilise a number of State owned assets that have not been able to generate inflows thus far.  
“If we are on the right track on that, we’d probably be able to even raise about US$ 1 billion. So those will be inflows that are non-debt and that will be very helpful for us,” Cabraal told CNBC last Friday while responding to a question on where inflows for debt repayment are expected from.

Furthermore, he added that active efforts are also underway to boost exports, specifically gems, as well as remittances, both which are showing strong indication of increasing.

While asserting that the government is confident of having enough money coming in, Cabraal stated that it is also a question of how the cash flows is dealt with. “That is very important for us and keeping a very close eye on that,” he said. As the government expects an inflow of US$ 2.65 billion over the next three months, Cabraal shared with CNBC that in addition using underutilised assets, a proportion of the inflows would come from the swaps arranged with Bangladesh Bank, and Reserve Bank of India, and about US$ 800 million will come in from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the SDR facility.

Although Sri Lanka was able to meet its debt obligations, Cabraal stated it was no easy task as difficulties and challenges were felt due to no income generated from the tourism sector, which is struggling to stay afloat due to the  hit from the global pandemic.

Nevertheless, adjustments were made within the economy to ensure payments were made on time so that Sri Lanka maintains its “impeccable” form in repaying its debt within the set time frame, he said.