India commits $450 million to help Sri Lanka recover from Cyclone Ditwah, which caused $4 billion in damage and killed over 640 people last month.
COLOMBO: India has committed $450 million in humanitarian assistance to help Sri Lanka recover from the devastating damage caused by Cyclone Ditwah.
Foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar announced the aid on Tuesday during a two-day visit to the country.
He said he had handed a letter from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, committing to a “reconstruction package of $450 million”.
The cyclone killed more than 640 people when it swept across the South Asian island last month.
It caused floods and landslides that inflicted about $4 billion in damage, according to the World Bank, or 4% of the country’s GDP.
President Dissanayake has described the storm, which affected more than two million people, as the most challenging natural disaster in the island’s history.
Jaishankar told a media briefing that $350 million of the aid will take the form of “concessional lines of credit”.
The remaining $100 million will be given as grants.
He also noted the 1,100 tons of relief material, medicine and other equipment sent to Sri Lanka in the cyclone’s immediate aftermath.
“Given the scale of damage, restoring connectivity was clearly an immediate priority,” he said, detailing the Indian military’s assistance in providing portable bridges.
Jaishankar said India would also look at other ways to mitigate the losses, including encouraging Indian tourism to Sri Lanka.
“Similarly, an increase in foreign direct investment from India can boost your economy at a critical time,” he added.
The cyclone struck as Sri Lanka was emerging from its worst-ever economic meltdown in 2022.
The country has since stabilised following a $2.9 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund approved in early 2023.
