India extends billion dollar credit line to Sri Lanka

BY S VENKAT NARAYAN Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, March 17: India and Sri Lanka signed on Thursday the US$1-billion short-term concessional loan facility in New Delhi. It is extended by the Indian Government to the Sri Lankan Government through the State Bank of India (SBI).

The loan facility was extended to the Government of Sri Lanka for procurement of food, medicines and other essential items. It was a key component of the four-pillar economic cooperation arrangement agreed between India and Sri Lanka during Minister Rajapaksa’s visit to New Delhi in December last year.

The signing ceremony was held at the Ministry of Finance in New Delhi this afternoon in the presence of Sri Lankan Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa, India’s External Affairs Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The SBI’s Managing Director Ashwini Kumar Tewari, General Manager Vinod Kumar were also present on this occasion.

Secretary to the Sri Lankan Ministry of Finance S R Attygalle signed the agreement on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka, while SBI’s Deputy General Manager Pushkar Jha signed on behalf of the bank.

Prior to the signing ceremony, Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa was received jointly by the Finance and External Affairs Ministers of India for bilateral talks at the Finance

Ministry in the North Block, said a media release by the Sri Lankan High Commission here.

During the bilateral talks, the two sides agreed to set up a framework for short, medium and long-term economic cooperation between the two countries aimed at addressing Sri Lanka’s present economic challenges.

With this objective, the three Ministers agreed to stay in regular contact, and a coordinating mechanism consisting of senior officials from the two countries was set up to maintain a regular dialogue.

Rajapaksa was accompanied to this meeting by Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to India Milinda Moragoda, Secretary to the Ministry of Finance Attygalle and Deputy High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to India Niluka Kadurugamuwa.

Earlier in the day, Minister Rajapaksa met with India’s Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy Raj Kumar Singh and discussed the ways and means to further deepen and broaden bilateral cooperation in the power and renewable energy sector. Chief Economic Adviser of the Government of India, Prof A. Nageswaran also called on Rajapaksa.