Sri Lanka Crisis: Colombo seeks bridging finance from New Delhi

Colombo, Apr 17: Sources have revealed that Sri Lanka has asked India to provide bridging finance for the crisis struck island nation until the International Monetary Fund (IMF) provides adequate funds. Presumably, the IMF can easily take another three to four months' period to provide the required funds to Sri Lanka.

 

 

 

India plays a vital role in helping out its neighbour and the recent request made by Colombo has once again stressed the point enough. The recent request from Colombo, comes after Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held several rounds of talks with her Sri Lankan counterpart and High Commissioner. It is also reported that Sri Lanka has requested India to utilize its influence and ask other neighbouring countries like Japan to help Sri Lanka with a Line of Credit.

 

 

 

 

The crisis struck country has also asked India to reach out to multilateral organizations to assist the island nation. Reports suggest that there are high chances for the Indian Finance Minister to respond positively to the proposal. It is also expected that Sitharaman might also effectively reach out to other friendly countries to mobilize finance for the crisis struck nation.

 

Considering the line of credit for food, fuel, medicine, currency swap and deferment of payment at the Asian Clearing Union, India has already provided assistance of around USD 2.4 billion to Sri lanka. However, for the next four months, until the IMF deal is worked out, the island nation will be needing much bigger financial backing for imports.