News
India to give an additional $1-billion emergency financial support to SL
BY S VENKAT NARAYAN Our Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI, March 16: Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi Wednesday morning to discuss bilateral matters and further Indian assistance to the island-nation, now in the grip of a major economic crisis.
Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to India Milinda Moragoda was present at the meeting.
It is widely expected that India will clear a further $1-billion emergency financial support that New Delhi and Colombo have been negotiating since Rajapaksa’s last visit to New Delhi early in December.
At that time, he held talks with External Affairs Minister Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Both sides had agreed on a “four-pronged” approach to addressing Sri Lanka’s meltdown. It included Indian credit lines for import of essentials such as food, medicines and fuel; currency swap to help boost Sri lanka’s foreign exchange reserves, an “early” modernisation project of the Trincomalee oil tank farm, and Colombo’s commitment to facilitate Indian investments in Sri Lanka.
Since January last, India has extended $1.4-billion support, by way of a $400-million Reserve Bank of India (RBI) currency swap, a $500-million loan deferment, and a $500-million Line of Credit for fuel imports. The additional $1 billion, if cleared, will bring some relief to Sri Lanka, amid its current fuel and gas shortages, and soaring prices of food and other basic items.
Between Rajapaksa’s two New Delhi visits in a span of four months, India and Sri Lanka signed key agreements, both at governmental levels and involving private Indian investors. On January 6, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) subsidiary Lanka IOC, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) and the Government of Sri Lanka signed three agreements to jointly develop the Trincomalee oil tank farm in eastern Sri Lanka.
On March 11, the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) signed an agreement with the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) to jointly set up a solar power plant at Sampur in Trincomalee. The same day, the Adani Group signed a deal for setting up two renewable energy projects in northern Sri Lanka, at an estimated cost of $500 million. This agreement was not publicised by either side.
Rajapaksa was scheduled to meet Jaishankar for a one-on-one interaction later on Wednesday, sources said
Accepting deposits from political parties and independent groups who intend to contest the forthcoming Local Authorities Election ended at 12noon today [19].
Deposits were accepted at respective District Secretariats from 3rd March 2025.
The Elections Commission has announced that the deadline for the accepting of nominations for the LA poll is set to conclude at 12:00 noon tomorrow (20).
It has been reported that the former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Deshabandu Tennakoon has appeared before the Matara Magistrate’s Court this morning (19),
The former IGP had been evading arrest after the Matara Magistrate’s court had ordered his arrest regarding a shooting incident that took place in front of the W15 Hotel Pelena, Weligama, Matara, in 2023.
The government has begun recovering funds obtained by former Lands and Land Development, Environment and Wildlife Resources Minister SM Chandrasena for the Janatha Lanka Chilli Marketing Limited (JLCML), which he headed, Parliament was informed yesterday.
Agriculture, Livestock, Land, and Irrigation Minister Namal Karunaratne said that as the Chairman of JLCML, Chandrasena had obtained a loan of Rs. 1,275,000 from the Mihintale Govijana Seva Bank in 2001.
The principal of the loan had not been repaid until the end of last year. “After we came to power, we demanded that the loan be settled. Then, we discovered that the interest on the loan had not been paid for the past 24 years, and attempts had been made to have the loan written off. We stopped that and are now in the process of recovering the interest of Rs. 1,975,233 on the loan,” Karunaratne said.
Karunaratne added that JLCML was registered as a company with the Registrar of Companies on March 21, 2001. As Chairman of the company, Chandrasena requested a loan of Rs. 10 million on April 19, 2001, for the purpose of purchasing chillies from farmers in 12 farmer colonies in the Mihintale Agrarian Service area.
The request was approved by the Mihintale Agrarian Service Committee on the same day and referred to the Anuradhapura District Agrarian Operations Committee, which approved it on April 23, 2001. However, the Agriculture Development Commissioner General recommended that a loan of Rs. 1.2 million would suffice for this purpose. JLCML took the loan and failed to repay it until the end of last year. When the matter was raised, the principal was paid, and we are now in the process of recovering the interest that was not paid for the past 24 years,” Karunaratne added.
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