Sri Lanka plans settlement of outstanding amount to Australia

Colombo, June 25 (Daily Mirror) - After Sri Lanka lost US$ 2.5 million to cyber hackers, the Finance Ministry is now working with the relevant Australian authorities to settle the outstanding amount according to an agreed repayment schedule, a top source said.

The recent US$ 2.5 million cyber theft from the newly established Public Debt Management Office (PDMO) occurred when a sovereign debt repayment due to Australia was diverted through a systemic digital breach.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said the incident had a direct bearing on Sri Lanka's programme with the Fund because the continuous performance criterion on preventing new external payment arrears was breached as a result of the missed debt payment to Australia.

Consequently, in order to secure disbursements under the Fifth and Sixth Reviews of the IMF programme, the authorities requested a waiver of non-observance on the grounds that the breach was minor, given that the missed payment amounted to only 0.002 per cent of GDP, and that corrective measures had been taken.

Meanwhile, a diplomatic source said the Finance Ministry was making new arrangements to settle the payment.

"This issue will be resolved over the next few months. Sri Lanka's other scheduled debt repayments are proceeding as usual," the source said.

Sri Lankan authorities are conducting investigations into the cyber theft with the assistance of the Australian Federal Police (AFP).

Earlier, Deputy Finance Minister Anil Jayantha Fernando said the full extent of the cyber heist became apparent after the criminals attempted to divert another payment due to India, raising suspicions over altered bank account details.