Sri Lanka discusses three-year partnership with World Bank
The Morning: President Anura Kumara Dissanayake met with World Bank Group President Ajay Banga during his visit to Sri Lanka, the first by a World Bank chief in nearly two decades.
The discussions centred on a new three-year partnership aimed at accelerating investment, digital transformation, tourism, agriculture, and regional development.
The World Bank Group announced a major financial package exceeding $ 1 billion over the next three years, targeting high-potential sectors such as energy, agriculture, tourism, and regional infrastructure.
The initiative is designed to spur job creation, empower local industries, and attract private investment to sustain long-term economic growth.
President Dissanayake emphasised the transformative potential of the partnership, stating: “This support from the World Bank Group is an investment in the people of Sri Lanka. It will help create jobs, support small businesses, and open up new opportunities across the country.”
World Bank President Ajay Banga underscored the urgency of structural reforms to capitalise on Sri Lanka’s stabilisation efforts. “With progress underway to restart growth, now is the time to accelerate reforms and enable private enterprise, especially in sectors that can generate jobs at scale,” he said.
The move comes amid concerns over Sri Lanka’s looming employment gap, with an estimated one million young workers entering the labour force in the next decade against only 300,000 projected formal job openings, the World Bank finds. The new funding aims to bridge this disparity by unlocking private sector potential and revitalising key industries.
OSL take:
Sri Lanka’s ongoing economic activities including the development plans aimed at the country achieving regional hub status have opened up many business/investment opportunities in the country. Also, Sri Lanka’s economic resilience and quick return to the growth path after facing an unprecedented economic crisis in 2022 have served to increase business confidence in the country as well as the confidence of multilateral financial institutions like the World Bank. The three-year partnership agreed upon by Sri Lanka and the World Bank indicate the increasing confidence in Sri Lanka as well as the increasing business potential in the country. The funds pledged by the World Bank to Sri Lanka’s development programme indicates fund availability for some key projects in the country’s development programme. With Sri Lanka’s strategic positioning in the Indian Ocean, strong trade ties enjoyed with many foreign countries and the funds pledged by multilateral financial institutions for Sri Lanka’s development programmes, the country is fast becoming an emerging business destination in the South Asian region. Given all these factors, foreign businesses/investors could confidently explore the expanding business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/20250515/Z_1 |