High-level Indian delegation due in Sri Lanka for talks on assistance: PM

ECONOMYNEXT – A high-level government delegation from India is set to visit Sri Lanka for a discussion on possible further loan assistance, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said.

Three officials from the Indian government will arrive in Colombo on Thursday, June 23 for this meeting, Wickremesinghe told parliament on Wednesday, June 22.

“We have received up to four billion US dollars under the Indian credit line so far. More credit has been requested. But India can’t keep giving us loans. Even their assistance has a limit.

“We also need to have a plan in place to repay these loans. They’re not donations,” he said, noting that India too is dealing with its own crisis in the country’s banking sector.

Former Sri Lanka Central Bank Governor Indrajit Coomaraswamy said earlier in June that Sri Lanka could get as much as 6.0 billion dollars in “bridge financing” from India.

“India has agreed to give 4.5 billion dollars,” Coomaraswamy told an online forum organized by the central bank on June 02.

“There may be 1.5 forthcoming.”

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Sri Lanka could get up to US$6bn from India, talks with Japan: Coomaraswamy