Sri Lanka has raised nearly $one billion through international sovereign bonds, the country’s central bank has said, a month after Parliament had rejected plans to increase local borrowings.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka had said that $650 million was raised on Thursday through a 10-year bond at an annual interest rate of 6.125 per cent.

“On the same day, the Central Bank issued $329 million in Sri Lanka Development Bonds (SLDB) of one year one month maturity at a Weighted Average Margin (WAM) of 31.69 basis points and $9 million in SLDB’s of two years 11 months maturity at a WAM of 353.89 bps, over six month London interbank offered rate,” the bank said in a statement yesterday.

Accordingly, about $988 million was raised in international sovereign bonds.

The first overseas bond issue was launched by the new regime, a month after the country’s Parliament had rejected a plan to raise the domestic borrowing limit by over $3.0 billion.

The new government led by President Maithripala Sirisena, headed by the minority Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, has offered several economic relief measures since assuming office in the January presidential election.

The Opposition, however, accuses them of mismanaging the economy and halting mega infrastructure development projects launched by Sirisena’s predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa.

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