Sri Lanka announced Wednesday it would raise $1.5 billion through a domestic bond sale this year as it moves to rebuild its foreign exchange reserves.
The cabinet approved the borrowing through dollar-denominated bonds to be offered to banks and investors in the country, said government spokesman Gayantha Karunatileka.
The move to borrow locally came weeks after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that the country's foreign reserves were "below comfortable levels".
Last June the government, which came to power in January 2015, received a $1.5 billion bailout from the IMF after facing a balance of payments crisis.
The IMF, in a November review before releasing the second tranche of the funds, said Sri Lanka's performance was "broadly satisfactory" but that it needed to build its dwindling foreign reserves. Foreign reserves at the end of December were $6.06 billion, up from $5.64 billion a month earlier, according to government data.
Sri Lanka also secured in December a three year $1.34 billion loan from the World Bank to fund a range of projects.
AFP text, photos, graphics and logos shall not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. AFP shall not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions in any AFP content, or for any actions taken in consequence.
Business Recorder shall not be responsible or held liable for any error of fact, opinion or recommendation and also for any loss, financial or otherwise, resulting from business or trade or speculation conducted, or investments made, on the basis of the information posted here. Nor shall Business Recorder be held liable for any actions taken in consequence." >Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2017