Sri Lankan Minister Defends Another Loan from China, Says “China Happens to Have the Cash”
Sri Lanka is seeking a loan of 700 million US dollars (approximately 5.4 billion Hong Kong dollars) from China. As the opposition and dissidents expressed their concerns about the government’s reliance on China, the Minister of Money, Capital Market and Public Enterprise Reform Minister Ajith Nivard Cabraal defended the loan by saying that it was because “it’s China that happens to have the cash now.”
In an interview with The Hindu, Cabraal said, “In different times in world history, different countries have been the ones who have had the most amount of cash. And now it happens to be China, so China will naturally invest all over the world.…I think we should all respect that.”
Despite the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) estimate that Sri Lanka’s GDP would shrink by 7% this year due to the Wuhan virus pandemic, Cabraal was optimistic about the financial situation in Sri Lanka. He said that the country was seeking different ways to repay its debts, including getting more loans from China, securing a currency swap mechanism with China and India, and issuing samurai and panda bonds.
The Director of the CCP’s Central Foreign Affairs Commission Yang Jiechi is visiting Sri Lanka this month. Following the 500 million US dollars (approximately 3.9 billion Hong Kong dollars) that China gave Sri Lanka just this March to fight the Wuhan virus, the South Asian country is discussing another loan with the Chinese delegation. The country has so far borrowed over 5 billion US dollars (approximately 38.8 billion Hong Kong dollars) from China.
#SriLanka #China #AjithNivardCabraal #YangJiechi #Finance #Diplomacy #WuhanVirus #COVID19 #Pandemic
Source: Apple Daily #Oct20
https://bit.ly/2IZzZkv
Sri Lanka is seeking a loan of 700 million US dollars (approximately 5.4 billion Hong Kong dollars) from China. As the opposition and dissidents expressed their concerns about the government’s reliance on China, the Minister of Money, Capital Market and Public Enterprise Reform Minister Ajith Nivard Cabraal defended the loan by saying that it was because “it’s China that happens to have the cash now.”
In an interview with The Hindu, Cabraal said, “In different times in world history, different countries have been the ones who have had the most amount of cash. And now it happens to be China, so China will naturally invest all over the world.…I think we should all respect that.”
Despite the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) estimate that Sri Lanka’s GDP would shrink by 7% this year due to the Wuhan virus pandemic, Cabraal was optimistic about the financial situation in Sri Lanka. He said that the country was seeking different ways to repay its debts, including getting more loans from China, securing a currency swap mechanism with China and India, and issuing samurai and panda bonds.
The Director of the CCP’s Central Foreign Affairs Commission Yang Jiechi is visiting Sri Lanka this month. Following the 500 million US dollars (approximately 3.9 billion Hong Kong dollars) that China gave Sri Lanka just this March to fight the Wuhan virus, the South Asian country is discussing another loan with the Chinese delegation. The country has so far borrowed over 5 billion US dollars (approximately 38.8 billion Hong Kong dollars) from China.
#SriLanka #China #AjithNivardCabraal #YangJiechi #Finance #Diplomacy #WuhanVirus #COVID19 #Pandemic
Source: Apple Daily #Oct20
https://bit.ly/2IZzZkv