Standard Chartered Sees Sri Lanka Debt Deal Delayed to Year-End

Sri Lanka will probably clinch a debt restructuring deal with its creditors only by the end of the year, with Standard Chartered Plc predicting losses for both domestic and dollar bondholders.

The International Monetary Fund board approval of a $2.9 billion bailout for the island nation is likely to happen in the second rather than first quarter of the year, “given delays in securing financing assurances from bilateral creditors,” analysts at Standard Chartered including Shankar Narayanaswamy and Saurav Anand wrote in a note. That means talks with commercial creditors are likely to be pushed to the second half of the year, they wrote.