The IFC delegation meets Sri Lanka’s deputy finance minister Anil Jayantha Fernando at the Ministry of Finance
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank Group’s private sector arm, has discussed investing in Sri Lanka’s agriculture, fisheries, tourism, transport and logistics sectors with the Sri Lankan government.
An IFC delegation led by its regional vice president, Sarvesh Suri, met the labour minister and deputy finance minister Anil Jayantha Fernando at the Ministry of Finance on 30 October to discuss support for the financial sector and economic growth. The two sides discussed financing mechanisms beyond conventional banking, aligned with national development priorities. The IFC regional director, Manuel Reyes Retana, and the World Bank Group’s country manager for Sri Lanka and the Maldives, David Sislen, also attended.
In January, the IFC announced a US$166 million package through Nations Trust Bank, Commercial Bank of Ceylon and National Development Bank to improve access to finance for small and medium-sized businesses, women-owned businesses and agribusinesses. It comprised US$50 million in loans, US$80 million in risk-sharing facilities and US$36 million in trade finance.
The meeting coincided with the launch of the AgriConnect joint implementation plan by the government, the World Bank Group and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), which aims to link 900,000 farmers to agricultural value chains by 2030. It involves US$550 million from the World Bank Group and US$115 million from IFAD, and seeks to mobilise a further US$170 million in private investment in sectors including coconut, cinnamon, tea and fisheries.
In the North-East, farming and fishing communities remain constrained by the Sri Lankan military’s occupation of private land , where it runs its own farms and businesses, more than 17 years after the end of the Tamil liberation war.
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