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“A friend in need is a friend indeed”: Sri Lanka’s praise for India
India had helped Sri Lanka more than any other country, especially, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Ali Sabry said during Raisina Dialogue ‘Ideas Pod.’
While the Indian government took some bold decisions to help Sri Lanka face its economic crisis, even the Indian public came forward to support Sri Lanka, the country’s foreign minister said in the podcast released on Tuesday.
Sabry said, “Your real friends are tested when bad times come. India has stood by us, a friend in need and a friend indeed that they say. So we are very grateful to India, for what it has done for us.”The Sri Lankan Foreign Minister also stated that the Indian government took some
very bold, decisive actions by providing the island nation with about 3.9 billion worth of bilateral credit and accreditation. He further stated that it is the line which gave Sri Lanka the lifeline to fight the battle for another day, which probably saved the bankrupt country from oblivion.
Recalling India’s effort in saving Sri Lanka from drowning in the debt, Sabry said that India comes at the very beginning. He further stated that India’s intervention was higher than the others countries.
India sent financing assurances to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), becoming the first of Sri Lanka’s creditors to officially back the crisis-hit island nation’s debt restructuring programme.
“This takes Sri Lanka one step closer to getting a crucial USD 2.9-billion package from the IMF, made contingent on “receiving financing assurances from Sri Lanka’s official creditors and making a good faith effort to reach a collaborative agreement with private creditors,” Sabry said.
Sri Lankan foreign affairs minister was on an official visit to New Delhi to attend Raisina Dialogue – 2023, India’s premier conference on geopolitics and geo-economics, jointly hosted by the Observer Research Foundation in partnership with the Ministry of External Affairs of India from March 2-4.
Notably, China, Japan, and India are Sri Lanka’s three largest bilateral lenders.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in January visited Sri Lanka and said that India is committed to increasing investment flows to Sri Lanka to hasten its economic recovery.
Talking regarding the IMF bailout package at Raisina Dialogue ‘Ideas Pod’, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister said, ” Yeah, I think it will help out in the sense when it comes to IMF bailing out of a country which has been declared bankrupt or otherwise, it had been declared as unsustainable of paying the debt. There are two components.
“One is you have to get debt assurances from the bilaterals which is not challenging. And as far as the IMF pre-actions that we need to take in terms of the staff level agreement we have taken all those things of 15 of them for example cost, reflective pricing, more revenue basis and then independent central bank. So many of those things we have done,” Sabry said.
“I think those things we could have done or should have done with or without IMF, which is good for the country, though it is not very popular. But the problem is how to sell these reforms to the people because it will directly affect them. All these files, what we have done is used printing machine to print the money and then inflation resulted in that giving hope to people,” he added.
He further stated that IMF will bring a lot of confidence to the country. It will probably give the island nation access back to the financial market as well as it will also open up an investment which was ceased last year or so.
Sri Lanka sank into a financial crisis after the COVID-19 pandemic affected tourism and remittances from citizens working abroad fell. The war in Ukraine escalated the crisis as prices for imports, particularly fuel, rose sharply due to soaring inflation.
With worsening fuel and medicine shortages, thousands of protestors took to streets and stormed government buildings leading to President Gotabaye Rajapakse to flee the country and send in his resignation from abroad in July last year.
Ranil Wickremesinghe was elected President of the island country on July after defeating his main rival, Dullus Alahapperuma, with 134 votes to 82 in a parliamentary vote. Source – NDTV
The Situation Report issued by the Disaster Management Center at 06:00 AM today [09th December] confirms that 635 persons have died due to floods and landslides that took place in the country within the past two weeks. The number of persons that are missing is 192.
News
Cyclone Ditwah leaves Sri Lanka’s biodiversity in ruins: Top scientist warns of unseen ecological disaster
Sri Lanka is facing an environmental catastrophe of unprecedented scale in the wake of Cyclone Ditwah, with leading experts warning that the real extent of the ecological destruction remains dangerously under-assessed.
Research Professor Siril Wijesundara of the National Institute of Fundamental Studies (NIFS) issued a stark warning that Sri Lanka may be confronting one of the worst biodiversity losses in its recent history, yet the country still lacks a coordinated, scientific assessment of the damage.
“What we see in photographs and early reports is only a fraction of the devastation. We are dealing with a major ecological crisis, and unless a systematic, science-driven assessment begins immediately, we risk losing far more than we can ever restore,” Prof. Wijesundara told The Island.
Preliminary reports emerging from the field point to extensive destruction across multiple biodiversity-rich regions, including some of the nation’s most iconic and economically valuable landscapes. Massive trees have been uprooted, forest structures shattered, habitats altered beyond recognition, and countless species—many endemic—left at risk.
Among the hardest-hit areas are the Royal Botanical Gardens, Peradeniya, Seethawaka Botanical Garden, Gampaha Botanical Garden, and several national parks and forest reserves under the Department of Wildlife Conservation and the Forest Department. Officials describe scenes of collapsed canopies, destroyed research plots, and landscapes that may take decades to recover.
Prof. Wijesundara said the scale of destruction demands that Sri Lanka immediately mobilise international technical and financial support, noting that several global conservation bodies specialise in post-disaster ecological recovery.
“If we are serious about restoring these landscapes, we must work with international partners who can bring in advanced scientific tools, funding, and global best practices. This is not a situation a single nation can handle alone,” he stressed.
However, he issued a pointed warning about governance during the recovery phase.
“Post-disaster operations are vulnerable to misuse and misallocation of resources. The only safeguard is to ensure that all actions are handled strictly through recognised state institutions with legal mandates. Anything else will compromise transparency, accountability, and public trust,” Prof. Wijesundara cautioned.
He insisted that institutions such as the Department of Wildlife Conservation, the Forest Department, and the Botanical Gardens Department must take the lead—supported by credible international partners.
Environmental analysts say the coming months will be decisive. Without immediate, science-backed intervention, the ecological wounds inflicted by Cyclone Ditwah could deepen into long-term national losses—impacting everything, from tourism and heritage landscapes to species survival and climate resilience.
As Sri Lanka confronts the aftermath, the country now faces a critical test: whether it can respond with urgency, integrity, and scientific discipline to protect the natural systems that define its identity and underpin its future.
By Ifham Nizam
The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) has categorised 192 persons as missing as search operations were scaled down in flood-affected areas.
The death toll has been placed at 635, while the highest number of deaths was reported from the Kandy District. Kandy recorded 234 deaths.
According to the latest data, a total of 1,776,103 individuals from 512,123 families, in 25 districts, have been affected by the impact of Cyclone Ditwah.
The DMC has said that 69,861 individuals from 22,218 families are currently accommodated in 690 shelters established across the country.
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Death toll 635 as at 06:00 AM today [09]
Heavy showers above 100 mm are likely at some places in the Northern and Eastern provinces and in Polonnaruwa district
Cyclone Ditwah leaves Sri Lanka’s biodiversity in ruins: Top scientist warns of unseen ecological disaster
Disaster: 635 bodies found so far, 192 listed as missing
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