Sri Lanka has received proposals from eight investment banks for a sovereign bond planned for the second half of 2012, which are being evaluated, Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal said.

Bank of America, Citi, JP Morgan and HSBC are among the respondents.

Governor Cabraal said the timing of the deal and its tenure would be decided after seeking the views of the joint lead managers, but in the recent past Sri Lanka has raised 10-year bonds.

The size of the issue will be decided by the government, he said. A typical 'sovereign size' is at least 500 million US dollars, but Sri Lanka has sold billion dollar bonds in the past.

In October 2012, Sri Lanka's 500 million dollar sovereign bond is maturing.