Bank of China opens operations in Sri Lanka to facilitate Sri Lanka’s financial transactions with China
The Bank of China, which is the world’s fourth biggest in terms of US$ 2.7 trillion assets, last week commenced operations in Sri Lanka with the aim of facilitating Sri Lanka’s financial transactions with the Chinese.
The Bank of China ceremoniously launched its operations in Sri Lanka at Shangri-La Hotel, Colombo last week with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as the Chief Guest.
The Bank of China Country Manager will be Wang Chuan.
In 2017 a Chinese embassy spokesperson was quoted as telling the local media that it would be opened with an initial capital of US$ 90 million
The spokesperson has said the Bank’s presence in Colombo would facilitate Sri Lanka’s financial transactions with China.
The Bank of China has overseas branches in the United States, Canada, South Africa, Kenya and the United Kingdom.
Sri Lanka has reportedly assured cooperation with China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative and is currently developing a financial and logistics hub in the Indian Ocean.
OSL take:
The opening of Bank of China in Sri Lanka would further enhance the development cooperation between Sri Lanka and China. This would provide a financial boost to the existing large scale as well as impending Chinese projects in Sri Lanka. The easy access to funding for Chinese entities to engage in Sri Lankan projects would further encourage Chinese business ventures to engage in investing in the island nation. Local businesses could also use the opportunity to engage with Chinese businesses to set up partnerships/joint ventures to further develop their respective businesses.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/03042018/Z_3 |