ECONOMYNEXT – The completion date of Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring cannot be decided definitely at this time, but the country is recovering faster than other countries in the stability provided, State Minister Shehan Semasinghe said.
“Debt restructuring is a complicated process. As the debt restructuring process goes on, due to the issues that we encounter, we cannot say definitively that we can conclude the process by such and such a date,” he said.
He was responding to a question on the contracts with Lazard and Clifford Chance LLP. “We have had to extend the agreements in stages.”
“We have completed some stages; the local debt restructuring, the bilateral creditors, bond holders, then local banks. So we have achieved some success. We have achieved this while maintaining economic stability and in keeping with the IMF programme.”
“Lazard France has successfully worked with other defaulted nations to complete debt restructuring.
“Compared to other bankrupt countries’ stability and restructuring, Sri Lanka has shown an economic pick-up in the shortest time.”
As of July 31, Lazard had been paid 6.9 million dollars, as of July 31, 2024, he said.
The agreement with Clifford Chance was initially for a year from Jun 1, 2022 to Nov 30, 2022. It was extended six months from Dec 1, 2022 to May 30, 2023.
It was extended a further 3 months to August 31, 2023, then to February 29, 2024, May 31, 2024, and finally November 30.
A total of 4.6 million dollars had been paid to the company. (Colombo/Aug08/2024)