China to give $989 million to build new highway in Sri Lanka
Posted Mar 22, 2019 11:47 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — China has agreed to provide a loan of $989 million to Sri Lanka to build an expressway that will connect the island nation’s tea-growing central region to a China-run seaport on the southern coast.
A finance ministry statement said Friday that the Export-Import Bank of China has agreed to provide a concessional loan covering 85 per cent of the contract prices for the expressway, whose total estimated cost is $1.16 billion.
The loan comes as Sri Lanka struggles to repay $5.9 billion in foreign loans this year, of which 40 per cent must be serviced by the end of this month.
Much of Sri Lanka’s foreign debt is from China.
Associated Press, The Associated Press
