Colombo repays $50m to Dhaka

Sri Lanka has repaid US$ 50 million out of the total loan of $200 million which it took from Bangladesh under currency-swap mechanism two years ago for fighting an acute economic crisis.
Confirming depositing the first loan instalment by the Sri Lankan authorities, Bangladesh Bank (BB) spokesperson Md Mezbaul Haque said it was received on August 17.
He also informed that the amount increased the country's foreign-exchange reserves.
"We're expecting the second instalment within this month," added Mr. Haque, a BB executive director.
A BB official said the first loan instalment has already been added to the country's forex reserves.
"We are supposed to receive $100 million more within this month. Hopefully, we'll be able to get back the entire loan within couple of months."
He mentioned that the island state is steadily rebounding from its forex dearth and economic crisis.
Bangladesh provided the $200 million loan from its foreign reserve to Sri Lanka in 2021 for helping the South Asian country to recover from economic shock. The first tranche of $50 million was sent on August 19, the second $100 million on August 30, and $50 million in September of that year.
The term of the one-year loan expired in September 2022. Then it was extended twice in three months till this March. Finally, the neighbouring country was given six more months till September to repay the loan.
According to the BB statistics, the country's gross forex reserve stood at $29.36 billion as on August 20. In accordance with the IMF's BPM6 manual, the gross figure was $23.24 billion.

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