Jayasinghe & Uditha

COLOMBO (Reuters). COLOMBO (Reuters). The World Bank will provide $600 Million in financial aid to Sri Lanka to assist with essential import payments, according to the Sri Lankan president’s media division.

According to the statement, “The World Bank agreed to provide financial aid of $600 millions to alleviate the current economic crisis.”

According to the World Bank, $400 million would be released “shortly”, they said.

According to this statement, the World Bank stated it will continue to assist Sri Lankans in overcoming the current economic crisis.

The worst financial crisis in Sri Lanka since 1948 independence was caused by a dramatic drop in reserves. They dropped 70% in the last two years and reached $1.93 Billion at March’s end. Colombo was left struggling to cover essential costs such as fuel and medicines, food, and housing.

Sri Lanka began talks earlier this month with the International Monetary Fund for financial assistance. The country requires $3-4 Billion in bridge financing before the IMF approves a programme to assist it with its critical expenses.

The Sri Lankan government also reached out to multilateral and bilateral organisations in order to obtain bridge funding until the IMF offers its assistance.

India helped Sri Lanka with $1.9billion. Colombo is currently in negotiations with New Delhi to get an additional $1.5billion for imports including fuel.

Sri Lanka also has agreements with China on a syndicated loan up to $1 Billion.

Ali Sabry, Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister said that Colombo will also be seeking assistance from the Asian Development Bank.

The country had earlier announced that some of its international debt payments would be suspended and stated it would redirect its small reserves to pay for essential imports, such as fuel, gas, and medicine.