Sri Lanka to get additional $65M assistance from USAID

By Ahmad Adil

NEW DELHI (AA) - The US on Friday said it will provide an additional estimated $65 million through the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to support crisis-hit Sri Lanka.

US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Julie Chung announced on Friday that assistance to Sri Lanka would be provided "over a five-year period."

"This funding is in addition to over $60 million (21 billion Sri Lankan rupees) of new humanitarian and fertilizer assistance that (USAID) Administrator (Samantha) Power announced last week in response to the current economic and political crises in Sri Lanka," a statement issued by the US Embassy in Sri Lanka said.

"We remain fully committed to supporting locally led initiatives to advance a stable, prosperous, and peaceful Sri Lanka – critical to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific in which all nations are connected, prosperous, resilient, and secure,” the statement quoted the ambassador as saying.

It further said the US has provided more than $2 billion in development assistance to Sri Lanka since 1956.

Last week, Samantha Power announced $40 million in new USAID development assistance, to Sri Lanka "subject to Congressional approval, to provide fertilizer to approximately one million Sri Lankan farmers."

Sri Lanka has been in a state of emergency since April when mass protests broke out against the government's handling of the economy.

Crippled by a shortage of foreign exchange reserves after the collapse of its tourism-dependent economy, the country of 22 million people has defaulted on all its foreign debt.

It has been unable to pay for food, fuel, and other necessities, and experiences daily power outages caused by the energy crisis. Schools have been closed, and government employees have been asked to work from home.

In July, Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as Sri Lanka's new president, with the country still grappling with its worst financial crisis as foreign debts exceeded $51 billion.

Earlier this month, International Monetary Fund said it has reached a staff-level agreement to support crisis-hit Sri Lanka with an extended fund facility (EFF) of about $2.9 billion.