As Sri Lanka continues to reel under economical crisis, India has been contantly extending support to the island nation with all possible help. The Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi speaking on Sri Lanla crisis on Thursday said India's extended assistance of about USD 2.5 Bn worth during the past 2-3 months, it includes credit facilities for fuel and food which are most required.
Further he said, since mid-March, over 270,000 MT of diesel and petrol has been delivered to Sri Lanka.
"In addition, 40,000 tons of rice have been supplied other the recently extended USD 1 Billion credit facility," the MEA spokersperson said.
Mr Bagchi said, "The relationship between India and Sri Lanka is rooted in shared civilisation values and aspirations of our people, our cooperation based on commonality and interest has been strengthened in recent months."
"We see the recent developments in this perspective," he added.
"We stand ready to continue working with Sri Lanka for rapid post-COVID economic recovery, this is in line with our neighbourhood first policy & we have already conveyed to them on various occasions our readiness to extend whatever support we can," Bagchi said.
Reeling from the economic crisis, the healthcare sector of the island nation is also under stress as it is witnessing a major downfall due to a sudden rise in the prices of essential medicines that have been hiked upto 29 per cent after being prescribed by the government.
Notably, Sri Lanka is facing an unprecedented medicines supply shortage while people have hit the street against the government to protest the ongoing economic crisis.
The island nation is presently facing a foreign exchange shortage which has led to a food, fuel, power and gas shortage and has sought the assistance of friendly countries for economic assistance. Sri Lanka's currency has been also devalued by almost SLR 90 against the US dollar since March 8.
The economy of the island country that has been in a free-fall since the onset of the COVID pandemic is now in the throes of a spiralling crisis, with shortages of medicines and food and long power cuts.
Further, an emergency health situation has been declared in Sri Lanka from Tuesday because of the severe drug shortage in the country.
