Sri Lanka's budget foreign financing turned negative in the first quarter of 2024, with the government repaying more debt than it received, according to official data.
Amid an ongoing debt moratorium, the Sri Lankan government continues to service its multilateral debt. Without new budget support loans from international agencies such as the World Bank or the Asian Development Bank, or the disbursement of funds from earlier projects, the burden of debt servicing remains.
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka reported a net repayment of 14.9 billion rupees in foreign financing during the first three months of 2024. This figure is a significant improvement compared to the net repayment of 41.4 billion rupees in the same period last year.
Despite the debt moratorium, Sri Lanka is required to service interest payments. New principal disbursements are expected to commence once ongoing projects are resumed under restructuring agreements with bilateral creditors.
Domestic financing also saw a decrease, amounting to 296.1 billion rupees, down from 666.1 billion rupees in the previous year.
