COLOMBO – The United States will provide $6 million in emergency assistance to address the needs of marginalized and vulnerable communities impacted by Sri Lanka’s economic crisis, the US Embassy in Colombo announced on Thursday (16). The new funding will also provide technical assistance to the Government of Sri Lanka as it implements economic and financial reform measures to stabilize the economy, in line with an anticipated International Monetary Fund (IMF) package, it added.
The emergency assistance is provided through the US government’s development arm, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which responds to emerging or unforeseen complex crises overseas. The embassy said part of the US$ 6 million will go to USAID’s Social Cohesion and Reconciliation project (SCORE) to support small-scale agricultural productivity and microenterprises in communities that traditionally experience high poverty rates and are especially impacted by the crisis. The funding will also support public sector efficiency and resource management through USAID’s project to accelerate results in trade, national expenditure, and revenue (PARTNER), it added.
US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Julie Chung, noting that the US is committed to supporting the Sri Lankan people as they face today’s economic and political challenges, assured, “As a longstanding development partner, we will continue to champion efforts that promote sustainable economic growth and good governance.”
The embassy also noted that the US$ 6 million in new assistance is part of a much larger package of foreign assistance from the American people to meet the current need.
The support is part of a shared history that has seen the United States provide over $2 billion in economic and humanitarian support since 1956, the embassy said, adding the US will continue to add to its significant ongoing investments and assistance projects in Sri Lanka to help meet the immediate and long-term needs of the people of Sri Lanka.
-ENCL