$ 100 m loan for road development from China

• Sri Lanka to sign articles of association for Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

The Government has accepted a $ 100 million loan from China Development Bank for road development. 

Cabinet green light has been given for the loan, which was tabled by Highways and Investment Promotion Minister Kabir Hashim. The loan will be used to develop the Tangalle-Weeraketiya and Weeraketiya-Middeniya roads, the Cabinet paper noted. 

The Highways Ministry has decided to change an earlier plan to build eight roads and instead focused on the more prominent roads mentioned in the Cabinet paper. 

Cabinet also gave approval for Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake to sign the articles of association on establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) backed by China. Karunanayake will sign the documents on 29 June during a visit to Beijing. 

Sri Lanka agreed to join AIIB during former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s administration. 

AIIB is an international financial institution proposed by the government of China. The purpose of the multilateral development bank is to provide finance to infrastructure projects in the Asia region.

AIIB is regarded by some as a rival for the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which are commonly regarded as dominated by developed countries like the United States. So far 57 countries, including allies of the US have agreed to become members.