India approaches Sri Lanka amid economic crisis

Colombo, March 28 (EFE) .- Indian Foreign Minister Subramaniam Jaisankar, while on an official visit to Colombo, met senior Sri Lankan government officials on Monday, with New Delhi providing significant financial assistance. It is facing a severe economic crisis.

During the visit, Jaisankar assured Sri Lankan President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa that India would continue to co-operate and understand Sri Lanka in a message on the social networking site Twitter.

Rajapaksa, for his part, thanked the Government of India for the “invaluable assistance recently provided by the credit tax”.

In a statement, the Indian Embassy in Colombo said, “Rajapaksa thanked the Government of India for $ 2.5 billion in economic assistance by 2022.”

Sri Lanka is facing a slump in its international reserves and a deepening economic crisis from a huge debt. Without enough foreign exchange to provide food, fuel and basic necessities, the country entered a cycle of inflation and deficit months ago.

Last week, India approved a $ 1,000 million debt tax as part of its financial assistance to address the crisis.

This expanded the credit line for fuel and oil derivatives, which are in short supply on the island and caused power outages. EFE

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