The World Bank is likely to approve US$700 million in budgetary and welfare support for Sri Lanka, State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya confirmed. This is to be taken up at the next board meeting of the World Bank on June 28. Meanwhile, Reuters quoting an unnamed sources said. Of the proposed World Bank funding, US$500 million will be for budgetary support and is likely to come in two tranches of US$250 million each.
The first tranche is likely to be disbursed immediately after board approval with the next possibly in October, as the bank watches the progress of Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring and the first review of the IMF programme, due in September, the World Bank source added.
The remaining US$200 million will be earmarked for programmes to assist the poor, whose numbers have doubled to 25% of the population since the onset of the Indian Ocean nation’s worst economic crisis early last year, another World Bank source said.
“Households that have registered for support will be ranked... and the lowest 2 million will be eligible for support,” the source added, according to Reuters.
The International Monetary Fund approved a bailout of nearly US$3 billion in March, which Sri Lanka expects will bring additional funding of up to US$4 billion from the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and other multilateral agencies.