Sri Lanka has finalised long-delayed debt deals with its bilateral lenders including China to meet a key condition of an IMF bailout, the government said on Tuesday.
A treasury delegation is on its way to France to sign agreements with creditors on Wednesday, government spokesman Bandula Gunawardana said.
Sri Lanka defaulted on its foreign debt in April 2022 after running out of foreign exchange, and the unprecedented economic crisis forced the then president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to step down.
The government had expected a debt deal with all its creditors before the end of 2022, but negotiations dragged.
Bilateral creditors account for 28.5 percent of Sri Lanka's current outstanding foreign debt of $37 billion, according to treasury data at the end of March.
China is the largest single bilateral lender, accounting for $4.66 billion out of a total of $10.58 billion borrowed from other countries.
Japan is second, with $2.35 billion, and India is third with $1.36 billion.
Sri Lanka's commercial borrowings include $12.55 billion raised through International Sovereign Bonds (ISB), and another $2.18 billion from the China Development Bank.
"Talks with ISB holders are still ongoing," Gunawardana said, adding that the debt deal with bilateral creditors was an important achievement for the island.
He said President Ranil Wickremesinghe will disclose details of the deal with official creditors in a speech to the nation on Wednesday evening.
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