China tells Sri Lanka it’s ready to offer ‘urgently needed help’
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CHINA told Sri Lanka it is ready to provide “urgently needed help,” an offer that comes after the South Asian nation deployed its military to quell anger over its worst economic crisis in decades.
“China is willing to play a constructive role to help Sri Lanka achieve stable economic and social development under the principle of non-interference in internal affairs,” Premier Li Keqiang said in a phone call on Friday with Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, according to Beijing’s official Xinhua News Agency.
Rajapaksa said he appreciated China’s strong support when his country faced difficulties, Xinhua said. It added that he said Sri Lanka is willing to promote talks on a free-trade agreement, and to deepen cooperation in areas including finance, trade and tourism.
Citizens angered by worsening food and fuel shortages and rising living costs have taken to the streets to demand the ouster of the Rajapaksa family. Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has ordered a three-day military deployment before the funeral of a protester killed earlier this week when police fired at crowds.
The government in Colombo is seeking as much as US$4 billion in emergency aid this year to help the island nation ease hours long power cuts, shorten fuel lines that stretch miles, and pay for imported medicines and food.
Sri Lanka’s top diplomat in Beijing, Palitha Kohona, said recently he was very confident that China will come through on US$2.5 billion in financial support. Kohona said he’d received reassurances from authorities in China that arrangements for loans and credit lines were progressing.
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Sri Lanka was looking to borrow US$1 billion from Beijing so that it can repay existing Chinese loans due in July, as well as a US$1.5 billion credit line to purchase goods from the world’s No 2 economy such as textiles needed to support the apparel export industry, he said.
Kohona wasn’t able to give a precise timeframe, and didn’t disclose the terms of the funding. BLOOMBERG
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