NewsGate Press Network

On Tuesday the 24th of May 2022, the Sri Lankan announced that its cabinet had decided to seek a 500 million dollars loan from Exim Bank of India good enough to buy petroleum products with more bad news coming that foreign exchange reserves are fast drying up.

The island nation has been grappling with an unprecedented economic upheaval the worst since 1948 when Sri Lanka gained independence from England.

It is struggling with a shortage of almost all essentials, due to the lack of dollars to pay for the imports.

At the Cabinet meeting held on Monday, a proposal was approved to seek an Indian Exim Bank loan to purchase fuel, Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera said on Tuesday.

In the present economic conditions prevailing approval was granted for the proposal by the power and energy minister to seek a 500 million dollar loan from the Indian Exim Bank for the purchase of petroleum products, a Cabinet note said.

Sri Lanka had already received 500 million dollars from the Exim Bank of India and another 200 million from the State Bank of India for oil purchases, Wijesekara said.

News agencies are reporting that from June next month, Sri Lanka requires  530 million US dollars for fuel imports in the current forex crisis.