WORLD NEWS | Sri Lanka uses part of Indian financial aid to buy textbooks for 4 million students

COLOMBO, March 11 (PTI) — Sri Lanka has used more than $10 million of the $1 billion aid provided by India to print nearly half of the textbooks for its 4 million young students, the High Commission of India said here on Saturday.

India last year announced a $1 billion line of credit to Sri Lanka as part of its financial aid to help the country cope with the economic crisis.

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After signing the agreement to extend the line of credit, External Affairs Ministry (MEA) spokesman Arin Dambach said India always stands with the people of Sri Lanka and will continue to extend all possible support to the country.

“The Indian government provided a concessional line of credit of US$1 billion to the Sri Lankan government in March 2022 for the supply of essential items such as food, fuel, pharmaceuticals, industrial raw materials, etc. SPCs and private importers have used the facility to import more than US$10 million from India Procurement of printing paper and materials,” the High Commission said.

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“This will be used to print 45 percent of the textbooks needed by Sri Lanka’s 4 million young students for the 2023 school year,” it said in a statement.

India and Sri Lanka enjoy a multifaceted and multisectoral partnership. Under its ‘neighborhood first’ policy, India provides assistance to the people of Sri Lanka in various forms including through concessional credit facilities and lines of credit.

“To date, credit lines worth more than US$4 billion have been extended to various sectors in Sri Lanka, including the supply of essentials, oil, fertilizers, railway development, infrastructure, the defense sector and renewable energy,” the statement said.

Sri Lanka has been hit by an unprecedented financial crisis in 2022, which has also sparked political turmoil in the island nation, leading to the ouster of the now all-powerful Rajapaksa family.

The Sri Lankan government announced in May that more than $51 billion in foreign loans had defaulted – a first in the country’s history.

Extending a much-needed lifeline to neighboring countries in need, India provided Colombo with nearly $4 billion in financial aid during the year.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)