DailyMirror:
The Central Bank has lobbied the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) headquartered in Brussels to reflect Sri Lanka’s improved debt servicing capacity, among other things, in its ranking of countries, so that future borrowings could be made at a lower interest rate.
The OECD is an international economic organisation of 34 countries founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade. It describes itself as a forum of countries committed to democracy and the market economy, providing a platform to compare policy experiences, seeking answers to common problems, identifying good practices, and coordinating the domestic and international policies of its members.
Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal, who was in Brussels last week for this purpose, told Daily Mirror that Sri Lanka had made progress in various areas — such as economic growth and debt servicing capacity — and he had asked the organisation to reflect the country’s situation better in its rankings.
“Our debt servicing capacity has improved. This should be reflected in the new rankings. Then we can borrow money from various lending agencies at a lower rate,” he said.
Sri Lanka’s total foreign borrowings stand at Rs.1,760 billion and domestic borrowings at Rs.2,400 billion, according to the latest Central Bank report issued for the year 2009. The country has never defaulted in the repayment of loans. As a percentage of the GDP, foreign debt was 36.5 percent and domestic debt 49.8 percent. dated.