Bangladesh has stated that it would be hopeful Sri Lanka could pay back the $200 million debt that it owes to the country by March 2023, said a news report published by BD News 24, an English and Bengali language news website of Bangladesh. The report said: Abdur Rouf Talukder, Governor of Bangladesh Bank, provided a positive outlook on the matter after a meeting with his Sri Lankan counterpart Nandalal Weerasinghe in the United States.The two governors held a discussion on the sidelines of the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank at the World Bank headquarters in Washington, DC on Tuesday.
Bangladesh Bank Chief told the reporters on Thursday that Bangladesh gave $200 million to Sri Lanka under a currency swap agreement, but due to the economic crisis, Sri Lanka could not return the money on time.Bangladesh Bank Governor has said that Bangladesh extended the loan payment period twice at the request of Sri Lanka.Talukder said that Sri Lanka is supposed to repay the US$ 200 million loan in three installments in February and March next year.
On the talks with Weerasinghe, Talukder said, “We had a very good meeting. The governor assured me that they will meet the deadline for repayment. They are now restructuring their debts and have spoken to India, Japan and China about it.”
He told reporters that Sri Lanka is also working on a deal with the IMF that has also been roughly confirmed. “A final agreement on the programme will probably be reached between November and December.”
Last year, Bangladesh agreed to give Sri Lanka loans of at least $200 million from its foreign exchange reserves under a currency swap deal.The Bangladesh Bank released $50 million as the first tranche under a currency swap deal to support the poorly-rated Sri Lanka on August 19, 2021. The second tranche amounting to $100 million was released on August 30, 2021 and the final instalment worth $50 million was released on September 21, 2021. The credit was to be repaid in installments over three months, the central bank said at the time. But as the economic and political crisis in Sri Lanka worsened, its external debt became unsustainable. With political stability gradually being restored, Sri Lanka is now moving towards repaying its debts, BD News reported.