Intends to prepare a comprehensive debt restructuring program
Sri Lanka’s government has suspended servicing external public debt pending the completion of the Government’s discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the preparation of a comprehensive debt restructuring program covering the obligations.
Announcing an interim policy regarding the servicing of Sri Lanka’s external public debt, the Ministry of Finance said the policy of the Sri Lankan Government to suspend normal debt servicing of all Affected Debts, for an interim period pending an orderly and consensual restructuring of those obligations in a manner consistent with an economic adjustment program supported by the IMF.
For purposes of the policy, “external debt” means obligations for borrowed money or the deferred purchase price of goods or services (i) denominated in a currency other than Sri Lankan Rupees and (ii) governed by a law other than the law of Sri Lanka.
The announcement noted that Sri Lanka has had an unblemished record of external debt service since independence in 1948. However, due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the fallout from the hostilities in Ukraine, Sri Lanka’s fiscal position has been so eroded that continued normal servicing of external public debt obligations has become impossible.
Late last month, the IMF assessed Sri Lanka’s debt stock as unsustainable. Although the Government has taken extraordinary steps in an effort to remain current on all of its external indebtedness, it is now clear that this is no longer a tenable policy and that a comprehensive restructuring of these obligations will be required.
The policy announcement further said the Government, confronted by this hard reality, has approached the IMF for assistance in designing an economic recovery program and for emergency financial assistance.
The Government is also seeking financial help from its other multilateral and bilateral partners in order to alleviate the suffering that this extraordinary situation has imposed on the citizens of Sri Lanka.
The Government intends to pursue its discussions with the IMF as expeditiously as possible with a view to formulating and presenting to the country’s creditors a comprehensive plan for restoring Sri Lanka’s external public debt to a fully sustainable position.
The policy of the government will apply to amounts of affected debts outstanding on April 12, 2022. New credit facilities, and any amounts disbursed under existing credit facilities, after that date are not subject to this policy and shall be serviced normally.
The holders of all Affected Debts are being requested to capitalize any amounts of principal or interest falling due during this interim period, at an interest rate not higher than the normal contractual rate applicable to that credit, until a restructuring proposal can be presented to the creditors for their consideration.
This policy shall apply to the following categories of external public debts of Sri Lanka and its public sector borrowers:
(i) All outstanding series of bonds issued in the international capital markets;
(ii) All bilateral (government-to-government) credits, excluding swap lines between the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and a foreign central bank;
(iii) All foreign currency-denominated loan agreements or credit facilities with commercial banks or institutional lenders (including such _ institutions owned /controlled by foreign governments) for which the Republic or a public sector entity is the obligor or guarantor; and
(iv) All amounts payable by the Republic or a public sector entity following a call during the interim period upon a guarantee (or equivalent financial undertaking) issued in respect of the debt of a third party.
The Government said it is taking the emergency measures described in this memorandum only as a last resort in order to prevent a further deterioration of the Sri Lanka’s financial position and to ensure fair and equitable treatment of all creditors — commercial and bilateral — in the comprehensive debt restructuring that now seems inescapable.
The Finance Ministry statement said the Government has taken extraordinary steps in an effort to avoid a resort to these measures, but it is now apparent that any further delay risks inflicting permanent damage on Sri Lanka’s economy and causing potentially irreversible prejudice to the holders of the country’s external public debts.
The Government intends these emergency measures as temporary expedients designed to preserve the financial status quo until, with the assistance of the IMF and Sri Lanka’s other official sector partners, a full economic recovery program can be prepared.
To this end, the Government expects and intends:
(i) to advance its discussions with the IMF on an economic adjustment program as expeditiously as possible,
(ii) | to post on the Ministry’s website all Debt Sustainability Analyses and similar assessments prepared by the staff of the IMF or by Sri Lanka’s own financial advisors in connection with the economic adjustment program,
(iii) | to engage in good faith discussions with representatives of both bilateral and commercial creditors regarding the features of a comprehensive external debt restructuring program consistent with the parameters of the IMF-endorsed economic adjustment program and to invite the views of those parties on the elements of such an external debt restructuring program, and
(iv) to be guided in the design and implementation of that external debt restructuring program by the principles of inter-creditor equity (both as between different creditor groups and among individual members of each creditor group) and full transparency.
Courtesy: Colombo Page
