Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena yesterday expressed his gratitude to “trustworthy friend” India for saving Sri Lanka and preventing a “bloodbath” during its unprecedented economic crisis last year.
In 2022, India extended multi-pronged assistance of about US$ 4 billion to Sri Lanka, through multiple credit lines and currency support, in line with India’s “Neighbourhood First” policy. Speaker Abeywardena was speaking at the dinner reception hosted for delegates of the Indian Travel Congress. He said that India “saved Sri Lanka” during the financial crisis, otherwise, there would have been “another bloodbath for all of us”.
He thanked India for the help extended to the cash-strapped nation and recalled the civilisational ties and similarities between the two countries and their cultures.
“Sri Lanka and India are very closely interconnected countries, culturally, nationally, and policy-wise, and above all, India has been a very close associate and trustworthy friend of Sri Lanka,” Speaker Abeywardena said.
“And, even this time, today, I heard that India is willing to extend our restructuring of loans for 12 years and never in history, has country extended this kind of assistance.
“During the trouble that we had last year, you (India) saved us, otherwise, there would have been another bloodbath for all of us. So, that is how India came to help us,” he said.
Referring to India’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Gopal Baglay, the Speaker said, “Your Ambassador here, is a very close friend of ours. We love and respect him.”
Later, in an interaction with PTI on the sidelines of the reception, Speaker Abeywardena said, “India has always come to the aid of Sri Lanka” in times of crises, and emphasised the financial assistance given by New Delhi last year when the island nation was mired in the economic turmoil.
“That helped us survive for six months amid the crisis,” he said. “We thank India for the kind gesture, and I also say, thank you, Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he told PTI.