Sri Lanka will attempt to mobilise foreign financing of USD 742.8 million by entering into 11 agreements with foreign development partners and lending agencies from January 01 to August 31, 2020, to support the public investment program, treasury sources said. This consists of USD 500 million of Foreign Currency Term Financing Facility extended by the China Development Bank for budget support purposes and USD 128.6 million extended by the World Bank to be utilised for COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness Project.
Among other foreign financing facilities, grants extended by Japan (USD 7.6 million), Germany (USD 12.5 million), the Asian Development Bank (USD 3.0 million) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (USD 0.02 million). The performance of mobilising foreign financing during the period was adversely affected by COVID-19 pandemic.
Committed Undisbursed Balance (CUB) As at August 31, 2020, the total undisbursed balance of foreign financing available from already committed loans that are to be utilized in next 3–5 years, was USD 8,737 million.
China has the majority of the balance to be disbursed followed by Asian Development Bank, Japan and the World Bank respectively.
Almost 25 percent of the CUB to be utilised in roads and bridges sector whereas 18 percent is for water supply and sanitation and 14 percent for ground transport sector.
Sri Lanka is unlikely to meet its two billion dollar foreign direct investment (FDI) target this year due to the economic impact of COVID-19, government officials said, calling on G7 and oil-rich countries to address this issue.
The Group of Seven or G7 countries as it is called, comprises seven largest advanced economies in the world namely Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The country has received around 370 million dollar worth of FDI this year which includes a massive 250 million dollar mixed development project by Shangri-La to build an apartment and a shopping complex in capital Colombo.
Leave your comments
Login to post a comment
Post comment as a guest