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

As the COVID-19 pandemic has hit the economies across the world, the island nation of Sri Lanka on Friday signed a USD 400 million currency swap agreement with India's Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to meet short-term international liquidity requirements due to the COVID-19 consequential economic crisis.

This comes after India and Sri Lanka held the technical discussion on July 22 about the rescheduling of the bilateral debt repayment. The High Commission of India in Colombo, Sri Lanka said an agreement had been reached after the debt repayment rescheduling discussions held on Wednesday.

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The High Commission said that the development comes as a relief for Sri Lanka which can help it in the post COVID recovery. The High Commission added that it is another example of India's strong commitment to work with Sri Lanka in post-COVID-19 economic recovery.

The Indian delegation comprised of senior officials from the Ministry of External Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, and the EXIM Bank which interacted with representatives from the Department of External Resources of Sri Lanka through a video conference, as stated by ANI.

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a telephonic conversation with Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on May 23 and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on May 27 to discuss the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on lives of the people and economy. PM Modi had then assured the Sri Lankan President and Prime Minister that India would continue to support Sri Lanka to mitigate the effects of the pandemic.

Besides, Indian High Commissioner Gopal Baglay on May 29 made a courtesy call on President Gotabaya and the two agreed to accelerate India's participation in Sri Lanka's post-COVID economic recovery.

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