Basil off to India on Friday 

Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa is scheduled to visit India again on 25 February.

The two-day visit was previously scheduled for last week. Rajapaksa early this month said he hoped to finalise the $ 1 billion worth import trade financing by end-February or early March.  

“This will help ease the Balance of Payment (BOP) pressure on Sri Lanka as India is among the two top trading nations apart from China which have a favourable trade deficit against Sri Lanka,” he added.