Sri Lankan government proposed to sell/lease state owned assets to bring US$ 11 billion to reserves
Daily FT: The reserves-strapped Government can free up State-owned commercial assets worth over US$ 11 billion to tide with the current and future cash flow crisis, experts have said.
“We have US$ 52 billion of debt and assets of US$ 520 billion so our country’s loan to value ratio is 10%. To bring our solvency back we need to re-capitalise our country and we can do so by freeing up some capital tied up in state-owned assets,” experts pointed out, stressing that the country is not bankrupt but only insolvent.
“We can also create more headroom by restructuring our debt to sustainable levels. We must then look to push our Government revenues up and cut back our wasteful expenditure,” they said, adding that the Government must also find solutions to increase net inflows by four billion dollars in the short to medium term.
OSL take:
The government of Sri Lanka is looking at reforming and restructuring state owned enterprises (SOEs) that is also aimed at bringing in foreign exchange to the country. Sri Lanka’s geographical positioning in the Indian Ocean and the many trade agreements as well as concessions enjoyed by the country have also helped boost the country as an emerging business destination in the South Asian region. Given the expanding economy and the growing business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka, foreign businesses/investors could explore opportunities in the country. Sri Lanka’s ongoing development programme and the target of becoming a business hub in the South Asian region have all increased the country’s business potential.
Article Code : | VBS/AT/26042022/Z_2 |