Basil Rajapaksa in Delhi, to meet Modi

He is likely to seek crucial economic assistance by way of investments and enhanced tourist exchanges, say official sources in Colombo

Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa, who arrived in New Delhi on Tuesday, is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior ministers over the next two days. He is likely to seek crucial economic assistance from India by way of investments and enhanced tourist exchanges, official sources in Colombo indicated.

This is his first official visit abroad since his brother President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, appointed him Finance Minister in July last amid what the government termed an “unprecedented” economic crisis – with draining foreign reserves, falling rupee (200 to a US dollar), soaring living costs, and growing fear of a food shortage next year. Mr. Basil recently presented his first Budget in Parliament. It is expected to be passed next week, with the government’s two-thirds majority in the House.

Since the pandemic struck, the Sri Lankan leadership has made at least two requests for economic assistance – a debt freeze that Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa requested in February 2020, and a $ 1.1 billion currency swap that President Gotabaya sought in May 2020 – but New Delhi is yet to respond to either, amid considerable strain after Sri Lanka unilaterally cancelled a tripartite agreement earlier this year with India and Japan to jointly develop a Colombo Port terminal. Colombo instead offered a “compromise” project at a neighbouring terminal, and India agreed to rope in the Adani Group as the main private investor.