SL aims to raise US$2 billion before presidential election

Colombo (News 1st): Governor of the Central Bank Dr Indrajit Coomaraswamy said Sri Lanka is aiming to raise another US$2 billion before a presidential election expected to be held in December. Speaking to Bloomberg the governor said Sri Lanka’s Central Bank will consider all options to support the economy in the wake of last month’s terrorist attacks, including reducing the reserve ratio at its next policy meeting. He added “All options are there. It could be an SRR, it could be a policy-rate reduction, it could be a combination of the two.” Dr Coomaraswamy said the rupee should remain “fairly stable” as long as the global environment is favourable, with the Federal Reserve pausing in its rate-hiking cycle. He also added that up to $1 billion could be raised from a dollar bond with a World Bank guarantee and that Sri Lanka plans to also issue Samurai bonds with a guarantee from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Panda debt, or borrow from a term loan.