E-Paper
Sri Lanka gets $2.2 bn tsunami aid
Tsunami-hit Sri Lanka has got a bonanza of $2.2 billion from international donors, reports PK Balachandran.
Tsunami-hit Sri Lanka has got a bonanza of $2.2 billion from international donors, 90 per cent of it in the form of grants for reconstruction and development.
Sri Lankan Finance Minister, Dr Sarath Amunugama, told the press at the end of the Development Forum Meeting in Kandy on Monday that individual countries had pledged $745 million, the multilateral agencies had given $631 million, and non-governmental organisations had given $853 million. Ninety per cent of this was in the form of grants, he said.
Sri Lanka had got $300 million loans written off. Italy and China had written off loans.
This is the first time Sri Lanka has got so much by way of grants. This is also the first time the NGOs have contributed so much, more than nations and multilateral agencies.
But as the chairman of the conference and Sri Lankan Finance Minister, Sarath Amunugam, said at the inaugural, the amount of money actually released would depend on the submission of viable projects and the satisfactory implementation of projects.
Herein lies the biggest challenge for Sri Lanka. Its implementation record is perhaps one of the poorest in the world. The tsunami reconstruction work thus far is a recent and a fairly good example of a lack of effort and push. In the past, aid utilisation has been only 15 per cent.
The amount of money pledged by the Development Forum clearly indicates that the international community is very interested in Sri Lanka's development, stability and its peace process.
By pledging so much, and making most of the grant, the international community is inviting the Sri Lankan government and the rebel LTTE not only to develop their areas but work for peace and find a federal solution within a united Sri Lanka as per the Oslo and Tokyo declarations of 2002 and 2003 respectively.
This is a clear signal that the world is against the resumption of war or terrorism in this troubled island country.
