The Governor of the Central Bank (CB) of Sri Lanka said recently that the total Foreign Currency debt service payments for 2019 was about USD 5.9 billion. This also includes Sri Lanka Development Bonds (SLDBs) and Dollar loans (FCBUs) obtained from domestic banks and both are considered as domestic loans, Treasury sources said. This Department only has debt numbers obtained purely from foreign sources.
Therefore, of the USD 5.9 bn, about USD 4.6 bn has to be repaid this year for loans obtained from foreign sources. Of this USD 4.6 billion, only about USD 1.18 billion (about 25%) is for debt service payments for loans obtained after January 1, 2015. Of that USD 1.18 billion, about USD 1.05 billion is for loans obtained for budget support (International Sovereign Bonds (ISBs) and Syndicated loans) and the balance is for project/program loans.
The total foreign debt stock (debt obtained from foreign sources) as of today is about USD 35.3 billion (including the Hambantota Port, Mattala Airport and Puttalam Coal Power Projects and also including ISBs worth of USD 2.4 billion issued recently).
Of that amount, only about USD 13.6 billion (about 38%) has been accumulated after January 1, 2015 and the balance of USD 21.7 billion has been accumulated due to the loans obtained prior to 2015. Of the USD 13.6 billion accumulated after 2015, about USD 11.9 billion has been accumulated due to budget support loans (ISBs and Syndicated loans) and the balance of USD 1.7 billion due to project loans signed after January 1, 2015.
Loans obtained directly from foreign sources by State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) under Treasury Guarantee are not included, the sources added.