Courtesy  The Daily Mirror

• Govt. shrugs concerns of debt serviceability, come 2028 

Sri Lanka’s foreign currency debt repayment per annum from 2028 onwards is estimated at between US$ 3.25 billion to US$ 3.5 billion the most, should the current level of debt remain unchanged.

Speaking at a media briefing, the Central Bank said Sri Lanka has to pay only up to US$ 2.75 billion through 2027 for settling foreign currency debt before the full debt repayments on sovereign bonds kick in from 2028.

According to the Finance Ministry, Sri Lanka has repaid US$ 1,674 million for debt servicing in 2024 and for 2025 it amounts to US$ 2,435 million, of which US$ 1,948 million for the first eight months has already been paid by September 30.

Only another US$ 487 million is set to be paid in the final three months.

The foreign debt service payments are estimated at US$ 3,259 million for 2028, up only US$ 824 million from 2025.Sri Lanka is expected to earn US$ 8.0 billion from tourism trade in 2030, which the Sri Lanka Tourism Hotel Association too endorsed subject to the industry doing more towards the target. Certain groups are spreading an unfounded opinion that an inability to pay foreign debt may arise in 2028”, the President and Finance Minister, Anura Kumara Dissanayake said.

We believe that the people of this country will not accept such false propaganda”, he added.

Sri Lanka lost nearly US$ 10.0 billion from tourism trade during 2020 and 2021 due to pandemic induced restrictions.The Central Bank last week said the government is set to receive around US$ 750 million in December 2025 from multiple multilateral sources, including US$ 347 million from the International Monetary Fund.