$120 MN NEW U.S. LOAN TO HELP LANKA

Colombo, June 15: The US on Wednesday announced $120 million in new loans to Sri Lanka to grow and support small and medium-sized businesses in the debtridden island nation.

According to the US Embassy here, the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) Board of Directors has approved the loan in new investments that will reach small and medium-sized businesses and help to provide equity, jobs, and futures.

“For seventy years, the US has provided foreign assistance, loans, and trade opportunities to help grow the Sri Lankan economy and support the people,” US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Julie Chung said in a press release.

“Today’s announcement is good news for the private sector, as the DFC’s $120 million in new investments will reach small and medium-sized businesses and help to provide equity, jobs, and futures,” she said. Welcoming the DFC loan, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe acknowledged that Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) have been hit hardest by the economic crisis.

“Appreciate the timely dispersal of $120 million loan by US International Development Finance Corporation @DFCgov to help small and medium businesses in Sri Lanka to overcome immediate challenges,” he tweeted. The projects announced on Wednesday include a $100 million direct loan to the Commercial Bank of Ceylon, Sri Lanka’s leading commercial private bank, to expand lending to micro-small-and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and address the credit gap for women-owned businesses, which represent 25 per cent of MSMEs in the country that is facing its worst economic crisis since its independence from Britain 1948. The economic crisis has prompted an acute shortage of essential items.