The ministry expects the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to confirm soon whether Sri Lanka’s restructuring framework for International Sovereign Bonds (ISBs) complies with its programme parameters.

By the end of June this year, more than US$11.5 million had been paid to two foreign companies Lazard and Clifford Chance LLP (legal and financial advisors), hired for intermediary activities in connection with the restructuring of foreign debt.

Initially, it was agreed that the relevant tasks would be completed by the end of June 2023. However, the process has not yet been completed, and the government has not announced a target date for its completion

These recent agreements in June 2024 involve restructuring the country’s ISBs which accounted for $12.5 billion of Sri Lanka’s $37 billion external debt by the end of 2023.

Commercial creditors, who hold the ISBs, agreed to a 28 per cent nominal reduction in the bonds’ principal.