AIRLINK 75.15 Decreased By ▼ -0.10 (-0.13%)
BOP 5.12 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.2%)
CNERGY 4.52 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-1.74%)
DFML 34.59 Increased By ▲ 2.06 (6.33%)
DGKC 90.40 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (0.06%)
FCCL 22.80 Decreased By ▼ -0.18 (-0.78%)
FFBL 33.09 Decreased By ▼ -0.48 (-1.43%)
FFL 9.91 Decreased By ▼ -0.13 (-1.29%)
GGL 11.13 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (0.72%)
HBL 115.25 Increased By ▲ 0.35 (0.3%)
HUBC 136.58 Decreased By ▼ -0.76 (-0.55%)
HUMNL 10.08 Increased By ▲ 0.55 (5.77%)
KEL 4.66 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
KOSM 4.73 Increased By ▲ 0.03 (0.64%)
MLCF 40.29 Decreased By ▼ -0.25 (-0.62%)
OGDC 141.10 Increased By ▲ 1.35 (0.97%)
PAEL 27.55 Decreased By ▼ -0.10 (-0.36%)
PIAA 25.18 Increased By ▲ 0.78 (3.2%)
PIBTL 6.82 Decreased By ▼ -0.10 (-1.45%)
PPL 124.30 Decreased By ▼ -1.00 (-0.8%)
PRL 27.35 Decreased By ▼ -0.20 (-0.73%)
PTC 14.13 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-0.14%)
SEARL 61.65 Decreased By ▼ -0.20 (-0.32%)
SNGP 72.60 Decreased By ▼ -0.38 (-0.52%)
SSGC 10.52 Decreased By ▼ -0.07 (-0.66%)
TELE 8.76 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-0.23%)
TPLP 11.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.23 (-1.96%)
TRG 66.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.10 (-0.15%)
UNITY 25.80 Increased By ▲ 0.65 (2.58%)
WTL 1.41 Decreased By ▼ -0.03 (-2.08%)
BR100 7,839 Increased By 36.2 (0.46%)
BR30 25,788 Decreased By -27.5 (-0.11%)
KSE100 74,814 Increased By 283.3 (0.38%)
KSE30 24,096 Increased By 142.1 (0.59%)

COLOMBO: Crisis-hit Sri Lanka will seek a downgrade of its credit status to try to access concessionary loans usually available only for the world’s poorest nations, the government said Tuesday.

With GDP per capita of $3,814 last year, Sri Lanka was considered a relatively prosperous nation of 22 million people until the government ran out of foreign exchange.

Despite suffering its worst-ever financial crisis, it is still considered a “lower middle income country”.

That makes it ineligible for concessionary loans from the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), which helps countries classed as “low income” – a status Sri Lanka moved up from in 1997.

Japan says no pact yet with Sri Lanka on debt restructure talks

Government spokesman Bandula Gunawardena said the cabinet had approved seeking a “credit status downgrade” to a “gap” country to make it eligible for IDA assistance.

A top official at President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s office, Dinouk Colombage, described the move as a “reverse graduation” for a limited period.

The South Asian nation defaulted on its $51 billion external debt for the first time in April after suffering an unprecedented shortage of foreign exchange to pay for even the most essential imports.

The economic crisis has left Colombo unable to borrow commercially and seen international credit rating agencies downgrade Sri Lanka several times.

Months of protests over shortages of food, fuel and medicines led to the toppling of president Gotabaya Rajapaksa in July.

Comments

Comments are closed.