India overtakes China to emerge as the largest lender to Sri Lanka

India has overtaken China to become the largest bilateral lender to crisis-hit Sri Lanka after a total of $968 million in loans in four months of 2022, ANI reported citing a media report. China has been Sri Lanka’s top lender in the last 5 years between 2017 and 2021. 

China gave out loans of $947 million. $809 million out of this was as market borrowings from the China Development Bank, it was reported. In the past 5 years, the largest multilateral lender to Sri Lanka has been the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which gave out $610 million worth of loans in 2021.

In the first four months of 2022, India ($377 million) and ADB ($360 million) amounted for 76 percent of the total disbursements, said a Daily FT report. India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ruchira Kamboj, recently stated at a UNGA Annual Joint Debate that India had provided nearly $4 billion in food and financial assistance to crisis-stricken Sri Lanka.

"In our immediate neighbourhood, we are continuing to help our good friend and neighbour Sri Lanka to ensure food security by providing nearly USD 4 billion in food and financial assistance during the past few months," Kamboj at the UNGA Annual Joint Debate on the Reports of Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) and Peacebuilding Fund (PBF).

Meanwhile, India also gave 21,000 tonnes of fertiliser to Sri Lanka on August 22, following up on 44,000 tonnes supplied last month. 

Amid Sri Lanka’s worst crisis, India has been at the forefront of extending economic assistance. 

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(With inputs from ANI)