President Ranil Wickremesinghe said the Sri Lankan government is expecting to conclude discussions and reach an agreement with private bondholders on restructuring the country’s debt next week. 

He stated this while addressing the “Ekwa Jayagamu” public rally in Matara on Sunday (30).

In what it termed a significant milestone, Sri Lanka this week sealed a deal with the Official Creditor Committee [OCC], to restructure the debt owed to its bilateral lenders including India, and signed a separate agreement with China for debt treatment.

Wickremesinghe said that since signing the agreements with bilateral creditors, the representatives of private bondholders have also already started speaking with the government. 

“As of now, we have successfully achieved progress on both sides. We are expecting to successfully conclude this by next week,” he said.

The President also announced that elections will take place within this year and the next year including the Presidential Election, General Election and Provincial Council Election. 

The United National Party (UNP) and a section of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) commenced the President’s election campaign island-wide starting from Matara today under the theme ‘Ekwa Jayagamu’ (Victory Through Unity).

The rally was attended by Ministers Prasanna Ranatunga, Kanchana Wijesekera, Ali Sabry, Harin Fernando, Manusha Nanayakkara, Ramesh Pathirana, Douglas Devananda, North Western Province Governor Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena and President’s Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor on National Security Sagala Ratnayake.