Sri Lanka’s government will take responsibility for loans taken out by state-owned enterprises from China as part of the country’s debt-restructuring plan, President Ranil Wickremesinghe said in parliament on Tuesday.
Wickremesinghe, who is also the finance minister, was delivering the national budget for 2023. He said that loans borrowed from the Exim Bank of China by some state-owned enterprises would be classified as government debt.
These companies include Ceylon Electricity Board, Sri Lanka Ports Authority, and Airport and Aviation Services. Sri Lanka would also take over the guaranteed foreign exchange debt owed by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation.
According to the president, removing the loans from these companies’ balance sheets will strengthen their financial statements, which will draw in more investors….