Sri Lanka met with bondholders, aims to exit default as soon as possible, central bank governor says

(Reuters) - Sri Lanka met this week with its bondholders in Washington to discuss a debt exchange as the South Asian country aims to emerge from default as soon as possible, central bank Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe said on Friday.

He said the talks, which happened on the sidelines of the IMF/World Bank meetings in Washington, aim to quickly get Sri Lanka "out of this default category."

Citibank will act as dealer manager to take charge of a consent solicitation, the next step for the island nation to exit default.

Sri Lanka defaulted in 2022 for the first time ever after being hit by an economic crisis, and reached in September a draft deal with creditors to restructure $12.5 billion of international bonds. Earlier this month the International Monetary Fund and official bilateral creditors backed the proposal.

Weerasinghe said the next review of the IMF program will be delayed, but did not give a timeline on when it would happen or if it would be before the end of this year.

The fund said earlier this month after a visit to Colombo that it would continue to engage with Sri Lanka's economic team to set a date for the third review.

Looking forward, Weerasinghe said depending on how fast economic reforms can be implemented he expects the Sri Lankan economy to grow "around 3%" in 2025.