SL expects up to US$ 2bn worth multilateral funds from ADB and WB

Sri Lankan team in Washington, D.C. to continue debt restructuring talks alongside IMF, WB annual meetings 

Sri Lanka is expecting to raise up to US$ 2.0 billion worth of bilateral loans collectively from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the World Bank and other multilateral lenders as bridge financing after country secured programme support from the Fund, according to President and the Finance Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. 

According to him, ADB had already expressed its interest to provide Sri Lanka with a fresh US$ 500 million loan and such funds could be used to strengthen the external reserves which had fallen to levels which aren’t enough even to make the country’s essential imports. 

In a further bid to improve foreign currency liquidity which has run dry in the domestic market, officials are also expecting to engage with other countries which are willing to provide Sri Lanka with bilateral financing. 
Wickremesinghe however said accessing bilateral funding could take a relatively longer period than when obtaining multilateral financing but they could embark on the negotiations once the IMF deal becomes activated. 

Sri Lanka officially launched debt restructuring talks on September 23 inviting all bilateral and private creditors to engage with the officials to expedite the debt restructuring talks to obtain financing assurances, a key sticking point to activate the IMF programme, which still remains at the staff-level. 
However, the Central Bank remains hopeful that bilateral financing assurances could be obtained by mid-November and unlock the financing by December or early January next year.