Sri Lanka to receive World Bank help to face economic crisis

By KRISHAN FRANCIS and BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI
Associated Press

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka’s finance minister says the country will receive $300 million to $600 million from the World Bank over the next four months to buy medicine and other essential items to help cope with its worst economic crisis in decades. Finance Minister Ali Sabri, who is in Washington to negotiate a rescue package with the International Monetary Fund, says the talks might take some time and the World Bank has agreed to provide support in the meantime. Sri Lanka is on the brink of bankruptcy, with nearly $7 billion of its total $25 billion in foreign debt due for repayment this year. A severe shortage of foreign exchange means the country lacks money to buy imported goods.