COLOMBO: Sri Lanka said Tuesday it would assume $510 million of debt to help find a buyer for its loss-making national airline, weeks after a stowaway rat caused a string of flight cancellations.

The island nation is recovering from an unprecedented economic crisis in 2022 and has been desperate to sell off SriLankan Airlines, long a burden on the national budget.

A deadline for proposals to “restructure” and take over the carrier was due to expire on Tuesday but aviation minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said cabinet had extend it for 45 days, without saying if any offers had already been received.

De Silva said the government would absorb more than a quarter of the airline’s reported $1.973 billion in accumulated losses to March 2023 “so that the airline becomes more attractive to investors”.

He added that the government also decided to inject $60-70 million dollars into SriLankan over the next six months to keep the airline afloat and secure the jobs of its 6,000 employees until its privatisation.