Govt. to borrow $ 1 b via 5-year syndicated loan: Ravi K

Colombo (Reuters) - Sri Lanka is planning to borrow $ 1 billion via five-year syndicated loans as early as this week from international banks and it could borrow up to $ 2 billion, Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said yesterday.

“We feel, before the LIBOR goes up, we can do certain things and get the benefits,” Karunanayake told a Foreign Correspondents Association (FCA) forum in Colombo.

“We find unsolicited proposals coming in from banks like BNP, Credit Suisse, and Barclays roughly at 325–375 (basis points) and we believe that we could collect about $1 billion in the next couple of days .... It would even go up to $ 2 billion.”

Sri Lanka borrowed $ 988 million on 28 May via a 10-year sovereign bond and development bonds. The new Government has to pay off heavy debts built up by the previous administration, mainly for infrastructure projects.