Sri Lanka is in discussion with the Indian Government for a 500 million US dollar credit line to buy fuel to and delay payments, President’s Secretary P.B. Jayasundera said.
Speaking to Economy Next, Jayasundera said that Sri Lanka was talking with the Government of India for an oil credit facility.
“We are looking for around $500 million US dollars so that the petroleum burden would be reduced a little bit,” he added.
The approach to India comes on the back of talks held in April between Minister of Energy Udaya Gammanpila and the Charge d’ Affaires of the UAE Embassy in Colombo, Humaid Altamimi, on mutual cooperation between the two countries in the field of energy.
The discussion had focussed on obtaining crude oil and petroleum products for Sri Lanka on a long-term credit facility.
The discussions thereafter progressed to negotiations between Sri Lanka and the Group CEO of Emirate National Oil Company (ENOC) Saif Al Falasi on Monday (20) concluding on a positive note.
Following the talks, Minister Gammanpila said the negotiations were held on the possibility of purchasing crude oil on a credit facility.
The Minister has been engaged in several discussions in this regard after his Ministry recently decided to immediately obtain a loan of US $ 2.5 billion from the international market to address the serious financial crisis faced by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation.
According to the Sunday Lankadeepa newspaper, Cabinet approval was granted to obtain the loan.
A Cabinet-appointed Procurement Committee has reportedly studied the proposals and a decision has been made to further negotiate the terms on obtaining the loans. (NewsWire)
