Colombo, The Indian Embassy in Colombo has released a statement on the claim of not providing more financial aid to Sri Lanka. The Indian Embassy said that we have given an unprecedented financial assistance of 4 billion dollars to Sri Lanka.
The Indian Embassy also said that we are continuing to support Sri Lanka to ease the current economic difficulties. In fact, a media report claimed that India would no longer provide further financial assistance to Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has been going through its biggest economic crisis ever since the beginning of this year.
The Indian Embassy in Sri Lanka said that we have heard media reports about India not providing further financial assistance. Here we would like to emphasize that India has provided an unprecedented bilateral assistance of nearly 4 billion dollars this year to meet the difficulties faced by the people of Sri Lanka. India has also advocated for other bilateral and multilateral partners to be increasingly supportive of Sri Lanka’s current economic woes.
“We have also noted the conclusion of a staff-level agreement between the IMF and the Sri Lankan government. Its further approval at the IMF is dependent on Sri Lanka’s debt sustainability,” the Indian embassy said.
We will continue to support Sri Lanka in every possible way. Will strive for rapid economic recovery and development of Sri Lanka by promoting long-term investments from India, particularly in key economic sectors of Sri Lanka.
In addition, we have ongoing bilateral development cooperation projects in Sri Lanka. Which in total is about 3.5 billion dollars. Sri Lankan students availing scholarships for higher education and skill training in premier Indian institutions.
These aspects of our close and long-standing cooperation with Sri Lanka also contribute to Sri Lanka’s efforts to overcome the current economic difficulties. Let us tell you here that after receiving help in July, Sri Lanka’s Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekara said that till now India is the only country which has helped Sri Lanka in this crisis. Loans from India to Sri Lanka have increased rapidly in the last few months.
India has given maximum loans to Sri Lanka in the first four months of the current year. India has also left behind China in this matter.HS1MS