Srilankan Airline’s govt. guaranteed bonds downgraded

Fitch Ratings has also downgraded the rating on Srilankan Airlines Limited’s (SLA) US $ 175 million governmentguaranteed bonds due in June 2019, to ‘B’ from ‘B+’.

This follows the downgrade of Sri Lanka’s Long-term Foreign and Localcurrency Issuer Default Ratings to ‘B’ with a Stable Outlook.

The national carrier’s bonds are rated at the same level as SLA’S parent, the state of Sri Lanka, due to the unconditional and irrevocable guarantee provided by the state.

The Sri Lankan government holds 99.5 percent of SLA at end-2017 through direct and indirect holdings.