ADB aims to lift SL to upper mid income country bracket
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has allocated US$2.3 billion for Sri Lanka for the next three years to push for upper mid income status.
It will also become consultants for the East Container Terminal (ECT) scheduled to be signed when the bank’s President visits the country next week. Based on a request by the government the ADB has opted to become consultants for the ECT construction where it would be providing transaction advisory services for the Sri Lanka Port Authority (SLPA) project, ADB Country Director Sri Wadowati told the Business Times on the sidelines of the media briefing held on Thursday to announce the launch of the “Development Effectiveness Brief” on Sri Lanka.
ADB had been involved in the South Harbour project at the Colombo Port as well in partly funding the project and the reason for their entry into the ECT was due to the fact that it was a public private partnership project, the country director explained.In addition, the bank has allocated $100 million for small and medium enterprises development and has provided a technical assistance loan of $20 million for preparatory work on projects for 2016 and will also be releasing its second tranche on the Mahaweli Water Security Investment programme.
ADB is working with the government to deliver surplus water from the Mahaweli river basin to its dry zone where scarce supplies undermine agricultural output and household incomes in addition to providing clean drinking water to over 350,000 people, the bank said on its website. ADB President Takehiko Nakao is arriving in the country on Tuesday and scheduled to have a series of meetings with President Maithripala Sirisena and other key government officials, the country director told the media.
The ADB President’s visit from February 23-24 will also include visits to projects like the Southern Expressway. The country brief released stated that Sri Lanka is tipped to reach the upper middle-income country status “in a few years.” ADB Senior Country Economist Tadateru Hayashi said that they were looking at upgrading and developing new products and services and increasing productivity. In addition they would look at advancing infrastructure and human capital in addition to addressing innovation.
It was also pointed out that currently the government is on track to achieving a higher-income status with investments to play heavily in the physical and financial infrastructure sectors as well as in the skills and education of its people. The report noted that Sri Lanka has moved beyond being a place to find low-cost labour to manufacture goods for export. Currently, Mr. Hayashi said the bank is in talks with the government on its country partnership strategy for 2017-2021. ADB’s lending pipeline to Sri Lanka is mainly focused on the transport, energy and education sectors since its involvement in the country in 1996.