India overtakes China to become largest lender of Sri Lanka
In the past five years from 2017-2021, China has been the largest bilateral lender to Sri Lanka as China disbursed USD 947 million, out of which USD 809 million was obtained as market borrowings from the China Development Bank.
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New Delhi, Sept 19: With a total of USD 968 million in loans in four months of 2022, India has emerged as Sri Lanka's largest bilateral lender, overtaking China in the process, a media report said. India has been at forefront of extending economic assistance to Sri Lanka as per their requirements.
According to reports, in the past five years from 2017-2021, China has been the largest bilateral lender to Sri Lanka as China disbursed USD 947 million, out of which USD 809 million was obtained as market borrowings from the China Development Bank. It said the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has been the largest multilateral lender in the past five years and disbursed funds amounting to USD 610 million in 2021.
India has disbursed USD 377 million and ADB has disbursed USD 360 million, which account for 76 per cent of the total disbursements in the first four months of 2022. Meanwhile, at a UNGA Annual Joint Debate on the Reports of Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) and Peacebuilding Fund (PBF), India's Permanent Representative to the UN, Ruchira Kamboj said that India had provided nearly USD 4 billion in food and financial assistance to Sri Lanka.
"In our immediate neighbourhood, we are continuing to help our good friend and neighbour Sri Lanka to ensure food security by providing nearly USD 4 billion in food and financial assistance during the past few months," Kamboj said. India has been at forefront of extending economic assistance to Sri Lanka as per their requirements and is one of the countries that have provided the maximum amount of assistance in time of need. Since the beginning of 2022, Sri Lanka has experienced an escalating economic crisis and the government has defaulted on its foreign loans.