Restructuring bankers have visited Sri Lanka to discuss proposals with the government on raising funds to help manage a debt crisis that has left the South Asian country struggling to pay for imports and stoked political controversy, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Advisers from investment banks including Rothschild & Co. and Lazard Ltd. have recently met with government officials and discussed potential plans to help the nation raise cash, including asset sales and securitized debt facilities. Rothschild declined to comment. Lazard and the Sri Lankan government didn’t immediately return requests for comment. Sri Lanka’s central bank two weeks ago said that it and the government were “committed to [honor] all forthcoming debt obligations and thereby maintain Sri Lanka’s unblemished record of debt servicing” and that it didn’t believe the government needed to restructure its debts. The nation has faced an economic crisis since 2020. That year, its economy contracted 3.6% in real terms, the deepest recession since its independence from the U.K. in 1948, according to the central bank.
