• Government debt held steady at $ 102.6 b, with a slight reduction in external debt
• Multilateral and commercial bonds are the largest components of the external debt

Sri Lanka government’s total external debt stood at $ 37.1 billion at the end of first half of 2025, with a nominal reduction of $ 104 million from Q1 and total debt servicing of $ 952 million in Q2, Ministry of Finance data showed.

The quarterly debt bulletin by the Finance Ministry showed that the total government debt remained unchanged at $ 102.6 billion by end of Q2, from the Q1 figures.

Accordingly, external debt stood at $ 37.1 billion while domestic debt stood at $ 65.5 billion by the end of the June quarter.

Data showed that multilateral debt accounts for 36% of total government external debt, followed by commercial debt at 34% and bilateral debt at 30%.

Approximately 81% of commercial debt comprises international sovereign bond (ISB) issuances, with the remainder consisting of foreign currency term financing facilities (syndicated loans).

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank are the major multilateral creditors representing over 85% of the total multilateral debt. Under bilateral debt, 59% were represented by non-Paris club countries, while about 41% from Paris club countries.

Moreover, it said that 75% of the government’s external debt consists of the instruments obtained at fixed interest rates, whereas 22% at floating interest rates.

In terms of borrowings and payments in the second quarter, borrowings stood at $ 8.08 billion with over $ 7.9 billion in treasury bills and bonds while debt service payments stood at $ 9.39 billion with $ 8.4 billion in government securities repayments.