Swamy lauds Modi govt's decision to swap currency with SL, says 'It's the way to go'

Senior BJP leer Subramanian Swamy on July 27, congratulated PM Modi for his government's decision to swap currency with Sri Lanka at a time of critical need. He suggested that India's help would remove Sri Lanka from a tight spot and all of Sri Lanka will thank PM for it.

On Friday, July 24,  Sri Lanka signed a $400 million currency swap agreement with India's Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in order to meet ir short-term international liquidity requirements amid looming COVID crisis.

Re | Sri Lanka signs $400 MN currency swap with India to meet financial needs amid COVID

RBI's move follows a series of technical discussions that happened on July 22 about drafting a rescheduled plan for bilateral debt repayments. Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo has stated that y reached an agreement with Ceylon neighbour and that currency swap will act as a relief measure for Sri Lanka during its COVID recovery days. 

High Commission in its statement after discussion explained that this gesture is an example of India's strong commitment to maintaining mutually respectable relations with Sri Lanka and asserted that India and Sri Lanka will work closely in post-COVID-19 ecomic recovery period.

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Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy ted that idea to help Sri Lanka in its time of critical need was his suggestion, stating that he h brought to tice of PM Modi about 'legacy issue' of Sri Lanka's financial debt and that India needs to help its neighbour at this juncture.

He furr ded that India's timely help will be greatly received by people of Sri Lanka and everyone from across border will w say 'Dhanyav!'

According to news ncy ANI, Indian delegation that took part in discussion comprised of senior officials from Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and EXIM Bank which interacted with representatives from Department of External Resources of Sri Lanka via a video link.

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Earlier, PM Modi engd in a telephonic conversation with Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his counterpart PM Mahinda Rajapaksa on May 23 and May 27 respectively to discuss and assess impact of COVID-19 on lives of people and country's ecomy. PM Modi assured Sri Lankan President and Rajapakse that India will offer all necessary support to mitigate effects of pandemic and that both countries will continue to work towards betterment of each or as well as region.

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