Sri Lanka’s gross financing needs are projected to top $20 billion next year, a 22.3 percent increase compared to this year, according to EMFI Securities.
London-based Financial Provider in a recent report said that the government may have underestimated current expenditures (mostly salaries and wages) and overestimating revenues.
Therefore, it projected that the country’s gross financing requirement to increase to 22.3% of GDP in 2021 (or USD 20.9 bn), by two percentage points of GDP higher than in 2020.
Further, it highlighted that Sri Lanka’s external debt service payments amount to a ‘very compromising’ $ 4.2 bn in 2021, which represents 71% of its international reserves.