Ahead of the World Bank(WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Spring meetings in Washington next week, Sri Lanka is seeking India’s assistance in garnering at least $3 billion in “bridging finance” from the international community. In a meeting with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday, Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to India Milinda Moragoda thanked India for its provision of $2.4 billion in credit lines for food, fuel and medicines, as well as a debt waiver for the first quarter.
“High Commissioner Moragoda and Minister Sitharaman discussed how India could assist Sri Lanka in garnering international support to secure bridging finance and for the economic adjustment programme itself, through both bilateral and multilateral partners,” the Sri Lankan High Commission said, adding that they “explored the possibility of enhancing and restructuring some of the assistance already provided by India in the form of credits for essential commodities and fuel as well as balance of payment support”. The statement noted that Ms. Sitharaman had expressed concern over the “humanitarian cost of the economic crisis and said India would stand by Sri Lanka to overcome its challenges”.
Mr. Moragoda said India was the first in providing the island nation assistance in these “challenging times”. In the past two weeks, protests against the Rajapaksa government have spread across the country, as inflation levels soared and the currency reserves have plummeted.
