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Rs.
9 billion received as tsunami aid He made this disclosure to our sister paper Irida Lankadeepa while the Central Bank also officially announced that the Government, NGOs and others in Sri Lanka had received more than Rs. 9.8 billion (or Rs 9,812.5 million) for tsunami disaster relief by last Thursday. The Bank said these were in the form of private, foreign and local, donations through banking channels. The amount included more than Rs. 1.3 billion (or Rs. 1301.4 million) received by the government through the Central Bank and the two state commercial banks. Adding to the cash donations, Maldivian High Commissioner Mohamed Asim said his Government provided a cheque for US $ 50,000 (Rs. 5 million) by way of a letter to President Chandrika Kumaratunga when he met her by appointment. Dr. Asim told The Sunday Times last night that after handing over this letter to President Kumaratunga, his Government transferred 50,000 US dollars to a Sri Lankan Government account provided to him by the Foreign Office in Colombo. The Maldivian envoy said the funds were given for tsunami relief work in Sri Lanka. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has also disbursed about US $ 157.5 million (Rs. 15 billion) in emergency assistance for Sri Lanka. The amount is "available immediately", a spokesman for the IMF's External Relations Department in Washington said. "The IMF provides emergency assistance to member countries hit by natural disasters to help them meet immediate balance of payments financing needs, and maintain or restore macro-economic stability," an official communique from the IMF said. The World Bank has, however, stated that its pledge of US $ 150 million would be given to the Sri Lankan Government based on project proposals. According to the Needs Assessment of the Sri Lankan Government, US $ 1.5 billion is required for the reconstruction work following the tsunami disaster. |
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