Sri Lanka’s Finance Ministry states US$ 539 million disbursed for development in first four months in 2019
The Finance Ministry of Sri Lanka has reportedly stated that the total foreign financing disbursements for development projects and programmes during the period from January 1 to April 30 this year amounted to US$ 539 million, of which US$ 535 million was disbursed as loans while nearly US$ 4 million was disbursed by way of grants.
The Finance Ministry’s mid-year fiscal position report for 2019 has stated that the majority of disbursements were from the loan agreements signed with China, which was almost 40 per cent followed by World Bank (14 per cent), Asian Development Bank (13 per cent) and Japan (12 per cent).
The state owned English daily has reported that a majority of the disbursements were in lieu of the projects implemented under the roads and bridges sector accounting for almost 52 per cent followed by the water supply and sanitation sector at 15 per cent, ground transport sector at 6 per cent and SME sector at 5.5 per cent.
The Finance Ministry has further stated in its report that as at April 30, 2019, the total undisbursed balance of foreign financing available from the already committed loans that are to be utilized in the next three to five years was US$ 10,074 million of which almost 29 per cent or US$ 2,929 million has been committed for roads and bridges sector while US$ 1,796 million is committed to water supply and sanitation sector.
The fiscal position report has added that the total outstanding external debt of the government was US$ 32.83 billion by the end of April 2019.
OSL take:
The mid-year fiscal position report for 2019 released by Sri Lanka’s Finance Ministry gives a clear indication of the country’s development programme, which is continuing without any disruption. The continuous inflow of foreign funds ensures the sustenance of Sri Lanka’s development programme. Therefore, foreign businesses/investors could explore business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka’s development programme and also look at opportunities in engaging the development of supplementary infrastructure facilities along with large scale development programmes.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/11072019/Z_2 |