Several countries have come forward to provide financial assistance to Sri Lanka to address the current economic turmoil in the country, Foreign Minister Professor G.L Peiris said.
Prof. Peiris told reporters yesterday that India will give Sri Lanka an additional US$ 500 million in financial assistance to buy fuel.
According to Reuters, he further said that Bangladesh was also willing to postpone the US$ 450 million in swap repayments to ease Sri Lanka’s burden.
“Assistance by the IMF will take about six months to come to us and it will come in tranches. During the intervening period, we need to find funds to keep our people supplied with essentials,” the Foreign Minister explained.
Meanwhile, China has announced that it will provide emergency humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka to help overcome the current difficulties.
The Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka said the further financial assistance to Sri Lanka has been announced by the Chinese Foreign Ministry & International Development Cooperation Agency.
The Embassy added that details of the financial aid will be announced in the coming days.
The further financial assistance to be provided by India will be the second US$ 500 million the country has provided in fuel credit to the Sri Lanka government.
The first line of credit was used up earlier this month after a shipment of 120,000 tons of diesel and 40,000 tons of petrol. So far India has provided nearly 400,000 tons of fuel.
In December last year, the Bangladesh Bank extended the validity of the credit facility it extended to Sri Lanka by three months after the expiry of the first three-month tenure of the credit facility.
Bangladesh had extended the credit facility amounting to $200 million under a currency swap deal with Sri Lanka and had provided it under three tranches from August 2021.
In March 2022, Sri Lanka had sought another US$ 250 million currency swap from Bangladesh which was announced during the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) that was held in Colombo.
Sri Lanka had reached out to China in March this year for a US$ 1 billion loan and a US$ 1.5 billion credit line from China.
The Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka said the request for further financial assistance of US$ 2.5 billion is in addition to the US$ 1.5 million currency swap in 2021.
At the time it was reported that the proposed US $ 1 billion loan sought from China will be utilized to settle the previous loans taken by Sri Lanka from the Chinese banks.
Sri Lanka is currently exploring the possibility of rescheduling debts with China.
In March, Sri Lanka had also reportedly requested financial assistance from the Government of Australia.
Former Minister of Trade Bandula Gunawardana had sought a US $200 million credit line from Australia to import lentils, milk powder, and food products.
So far Sri Lanka has sought financial assistance from four countries to address its worsening economic crisis. (NewsWire)