PM holds phone conversation with USAID Administrator Samantha Power

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe 

• Power assures USAID assistance to help country weather the crisis
• Stresses urgent need to undertake political economic reforms
• Expresses sympathy for those killed or injured in political unrest earlier this month

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday spoke on the phone with USAID Administrator Samantha Power to discuss how USAID is responding to the country’s political and economic crises.

USAID Spokesperson Rebecca Chalif said that during the conversation, the Administrator had pledged her support to the people of Sri Lanka and committed that USAID would help the country weather the crisis while stressing the need to urgently undertake political and economic reforms to gain the trust of the Sri Lankan people.

She also expressed her sympathy for those Sri Lankans who were killed or injured in the political unrest earlier this month.

Samantha Power had also underscored that USAID is pivoting its ongoing programs in Sri Lanka to help address the urgent needs of Sri Lanka’s most vulnerable and marginalised communities as they experience the economic shocks, compounded by rising food, fuel and fertiliser prices due to Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine.

“Administrator Power assured the Prime Minister that USAID would closely work with other donors such as the IMF, the World Bank, G7, and others to support Sri Lanka during this extraordinarily difficult period,” the USAID spokesperson said.