Lanka declares special bank holiday on Jun 30 to set in debt restructuring

Sri Lanka's Central Bank on Monday declared a special bank holiday on Friday to ensure a continuous five-day cooling-off period after the government's announcement on the domestic debt restructuring (DDR) process as part of the efforts to revive the cash-strapped economy.

According to government sources, the DDR plan would be announced on either Wednesday or Thursday, with Parliament expected to take it up over the weekend.

Governor of the central bank, Nandalal Weerasinghe, said that June 29 to July 3 would be continuous bank holidays with the Colombo Stock Exchange also observing a holiday on June 30.

We have now reached the stage of announcing domestic debt optimisation. For this, we need some time (and) space to discuss the plan in the cabinet, discuss at the finance oversight committee in Parliament, and finally present it in Parliament for approval," Weerasinghe said, adding that a minimum of five days would be required for the entire process.

On Thursday, Sri Lanka will ...