Sri Lanka's debt to China close to 20% of public external debt - study

 

Sri Lanka owed Chinese lenders USD 7.4 billion - nearly a fifth of its public external debt - by the end of last year, calculations by the China Africa Research Initiative (CARI) published on Wednesday showed, an estimate higher than many others.

The figure was above the "often-quoted 10 to 15 percent figures," the study said, adding a "significant portion" of the country's debt to China had been recorded under lending to state-owned enterprises rather than the central government.

Crisis-hit Sri Lanka is in the midst of a debt restructuring after years of economic mismanagement combined with the COVID-19 pandemic saw the country plunge into the worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1948 and tip into default.