ADB ready to provide more help to Sri Lanka

COLOMBO (News 1st) - The Asian Development Bank said it is prepared to offer more financial help to Sri Lanka.

Asian Development Bank President Masatsugu Asakawa said that as a key long-term partner, the ADB stands ready to provide further support to Sri Lanka.

He said that after the IMF programme is completed, ADB will consider to join another, by providing additional financial resources to join other rescue packages for Sri Lanka.

The remarks came after an ADB pact this month for an emergency loan of $200 million to ensure access to food and protect livelihoods in Sri Lanka which is suffering its worst economic crisis in more than seven decades.

Asakawa said that Sri Lanka’s economy has contracted and is dealing with high inflation which has severely affected living standards.

Asakawa said he was confident Colombo was working to finalise a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a loan of about $2.9 billion, by seeking financing assurances from creditors, among other steps.