In spite of its current economic woes, Sri Lanka has paid back $50 million of the $200 million it borrowed from Bangladesh via a currency exchange system two years ago.
Bangladesh Bank (BB) spokesman Md Mezbaul Haque confirmed the deposit of the first installment by Sri Lankan authorities on August 17, 2023.
He also said that the increase in the country’s foreign currency reserves was due to the sum.
“We’re expecting a second instalment within this month inshallah,” Mr. Haque, an executive director of the central bank, said.
In September of 2021, Bangladesh lent Sri Lanka $200 million from its foreign reserve to assist the struggling South Asian economy recover from an economic catastrophe.
The loan’s original period of a year ended in September of last year. Two separate three-month extensions brought the original term’s expiration date into March of this year. The last extension gave the neighboring countries till September to repay the debt.