COLOMBO, July 4 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's State Minister of Finance Shehan Semasinghe on Tuesday said the country has received 250 million U.S. dollars from the World Bank as budgetary support.
Speaking to journalists in Colombo, Semasinghe said that the World Bank approved 700 million dollars in June in financing as budgetary and welfare support for Sri Lanka.
Out of that, 500 million dollars are allocated for the "Sri Lanka Resilience, Stability, and Economic Turnaround (RESET) Development Policy Operation," which will support reforms that improve economic governance, enhance growth and competitiveness, and protect the poor and vulnerable.
This will provide budgetary support in two equal tranches against agreed-upon prior actions, and the 250 million dollars is the first tranche, he said.
The remaining 200 million dollars are earmarked for the "Social Protection Project," which seeks to support Sri Lanka in providing better-targeted income and livelihood opportunities to the poor and vulnerable and improving the responsiveness of the social protection program, he said.
Semasinghe said this funding will help the country implement foundational reforms that restore macroeconomic stability and sustainability, mitigate the impact of current and future shocks on the poor and vulnerable, and support an inclusive and private sector-led recovery and growth path. ■
