Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake confirmed that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) was prepared to double its annual funding to Sri Lanka, raising the figure to US$1.2 billion.
Mr Karunanayake said that the credit grant was due to independent reviews that placed confidence in Sri Lanka’s economy and not requests by the Sri Lankan government.
The funds are to be directed towards government development initiatives, budgetary allocations, capacity development and debt relief reports Colombo Page.
The credit increase comes in the wake of the ADB’s recent decision to downgrade Sri Lanka’s 2015 GDP growth forecast by 0.5%.
Speaking to press, Mr Karunanayake, said,
“One cannot compare the activities of a decade-old government to one that is just a few months old. It is easy to say things are not getting done but one has to dwell into specifics. Some challenges will take time but there has to be an element of reasonable evaluation.”
Sri Lanka seeks to double ADB funding (08 May 2015)
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