Sri Lanka secures USD200M World Bank loan

COLOMBO (AFP) – Sri Lanka said yesterday it had secured a new USD200 million World Bank loan to bolster economic recovery, the first foreign funding since leftist President Anura Kumara Dissanayake won elections.

Dissanayake, a self-avowed Marxist, took power last month on the back of public anger over the island’s 2022 economic meltdown, promising to reverse steep tax hikes, raise public servant salaries and renegotiate an unpopular USD2.9 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout.

The loan announced yesterday, which follows an earlier USD500 million World Bank loan after the 2022 economic crash, would help in “fostering an equitable economy”, the bank said in a statement.

Dissanayake said the loan would support “economic reforms for stability, growth, and protection of the vulnerable”.

The new president approved last week a controversial restructuring of USD14.7 billion in foreign commercial credit tentatively agreed by his predecessor Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Wickremesinghe announced a deal with international sovereign bondholders and the China Development Bank two days before he lost September presidential elections.

The World Bank building in Washington DC, United States. PHOTO: AP

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