Sri Lanka has sought another US$ 250 million currency swap from Bangladesh, News First reported today.
The request for the currency swap had been announced by Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister Dr. A.K. Abdul Momen.
Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister is currently in Sri Lanka to attend the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) which got underway in Colombo today.
The request for a US$ 250 million currency swap comes on the back of the US$ 200 million currency swap that was extended by the Bangladesh Bank (BB) to Sri Lanka in 2021.
Sri Lanka received the loan facility from Bangladesh in three tranches. The BB released US$ 50 million as the first tranche under a currency swap deal to support poorly-rated Sri Lanka on August 19, 2021.
The second tranche amounting to US$ 100 million was released on August 30, 2021, and the final installment worth US$ 50 million was released on September 21, 2021