The Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Sri Lanka (CCCSL) said that Chinese banks were feeling demotivated to extend loans to Sri Lanka, amidst criticism of Chinese funded loans by Sri Lankan officials.
CCCSL spokesperson Chen Chuan stressed to Xinhua “that it is the Sri Lankan government that submitted applications for loans from Chinese banks and no one forced the Sri Lankan side to apply for loans”.
“Some high ranking official's wrong allegations on interest rates of Chinese loans have damaged the images of Chinese banks in Sri Lanka and demotivated their enthusiasm of offering preferential loans to the country,” added the spokesperson. "We hope that Sri Lankan official concerned will make remarks based on the facts, take the people's well-being as first priority and make joint efforts with the Chinese side to maintain the good environment of China-Sri Lanka pragmatic cooperation."
Chen Chuan also said that whilst “the interest rates of the loans from some international financial institutions are relatively lower, however, they can provide only limited amount of loans which are not able to meet the urgent demands of the developing countries for economic development and infrastructure construction.”
“It is quite difficult and time-consuming to complete the application procedure for these loans,” added the spokerson, saying “by contrast, the Chinese banks have enough funds, and could provide preferential loans and commercial loans through a comparatively quick examining and approving procedure without any prerequisites.”
See our earlier posts:
Sri Lanka may borrow from international market says finance minister (10 Apr 2015)
China defends loans to Sri Lanka and docking of submarines in Colombo (04 March 2015)
Sri Lanka owes $2.6 billion to one Chinese bank (21 Aug 2014)
China’s loans to Sri Lanka reach nearly $4 billion (04 May 2014)
Sri Lanka owes over $15 billion in foreign loans (20 July 2012)
Who benefits from Chinese loans to Sri Lanka? (21 November 2010)
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