For recovering from the devastating Easter Sunday bombings,Sri Lanka seeks loan of nearly $1 billion from China for energy and highways, finance ministry said. Talks are underway with China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to raise the new loan in addition to the $1.2 billion obtained from international agencies this year, the ministry said.
“We have been discussing with the AIIB to obtain nearly an additional $1,000 million for further development of the Power and Highway sectors,” the ministry quoted finance minister Mangala Samaraweera. Sri Lanka’s former government borrowed heavily to rollout ports, highways and railroads, but several ambitious infrastructure projects ended up as white elephants and left the country facing a mountain of debt – mainly to China. Unable to service its loans, the government of PM Ranil Wickremesinghe leased a Chinese-built port at Hambantota to a Beijing company for $1.12 billion in 2017.
Sri Lanka seeks loan of nearly $1 billion from China for energy and highways
