Former Minister of Finance Ali Sabry says Sri Lanka will not receive aid from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, if the government fails to repay debts to multilateral organisations.
Speaking in Parliament today, Minister Sabry said although through debt restructuring the government can delay International Sovereign Bond payments and bilateral loans, it should honour the commitments to multilateral organisations.
He said Sri Lanka must find a total of USD 6 billion this year to repay loans.
The former Finance Minister said on the 18th of last month, they were compelled to resort to a soft default, since they could not source funds to repay debts.
He said they needed USD 78 million to repay a loan on the 18th of last month and another USD 105 million to repay a loan from a Chinese bank.
Former Minister Ali Sabry said after consulting the government and opposition members as well as international experts, they announced a soft default last month.
He said Sri Lanka will have to face this debt issue throughout the year and therefore noted the importance of working collectively to overcome the crisis at hand.
