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Sri Lankan envoy discusses economic cooperation following IMF bailout
Sri Lanka’s high commissioner Milinda Moragoda also thanked finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman for the Indian government’s role in the realisation of IMF’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement for Sri Lanka
NEW DELHI: Sri Lanka’s high commissioner Milinda Moragoda met finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday to discuss the way forward in bilateral economic cooperation following the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) approval to a bailout package for Colombo.
Moragoda also thanked Sitharaman for the Indian government’s role in the realisation of IMF’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement for Sri Lanka. India was among the first of Sri Lanka’s bilateral creditors to extend support for the bailout.
The EEF arrangement approved on Monday will allow Sri Lanka to access financing of up to $7 billion from IMF, international financial institutions and multilateral organisations. Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe said his government is working to lift import restrictions on essential goods, medicines and tourism-related goods as the foreign exchange situation improves.
Sitharaman and Moragoda discussed the way forward in bilateral economic cooperation, including steps to attract Indian investments to Sri Lanka, enhancing bilateral trade, particularly through settlement in Indian rupees, and increasing the inflow of Indian tourists, according to a statement from the Sri Lankan high commission.
The two sides agreed these measures could form part of Sri Lanka’s economic recovery.
Tuesday’s meeting between Moragoda and Sitharaman was the latest in a series since November 2021 that focused on Indian economic cooperation and assistance in the context of Sri Lanka’s economic crisis. India provided aid worth almost $4 billion, including lines of credit to purchase food, fuel and medicines and deferred payment of loans, to Sri Lanka last year.
Moragoda thanked Sitharaman for her personal involvement in taking up Sri Lanka’s case with bilateral development partners and multilateral financial agencies, including the IMF. He also presented Sitharaman with a copy of the publication “Geoffrey Bawa: Drawing from the Archives”, which contains the drawings of Sri Lanka’s famous architect.
The publication is a memento marking the opening of the exhibition “Geoffrey Bawa: It is essential to be there”, which was inaugurated by the external affairs minister S Jaishankar at the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi on March 17.
