ADB to strengthen support to help Sri Lanka become a competitive economy

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has said for the next five years it will strengthen its support for Sri Lanka’s human capital development to help the island nation become a competitive economy.

The ADB will more than triple the lending for education to $1 billion for the next 5 years.

This is in line with the government priority for human capital development to ensure equity of the social market economy vision, and the plan to gradually increase education expenditure to six percent of gross domestic product, the ADB said in an update on its Country Partnership Strategy.

Lending for education will include $300 million for skills development, $300 million for higher education, and $400 million for secondary education. During 2012-2015, support for the overall education sector totaled $300 million.

In other areas, some hard infrastructure projects focus on the final stage of ongoing development, such as for rural road connectivity and rural electrification.

The proposed Rural Electrification Project will support achieving 100 percent electrification from the current 98 percent in Sri Lanka. 

It will provide electricity to more than 17,500 rural households, including in the Northern and Eastern provinces. The Bank will lend $70 million in 2016 to finance the project.

The proposed SME Credit Line of $ 100 million in 2016 will provide funding to SMEs through participating financial institutions. New borrowers, women-led enterprises, and SMEs outside of Colombo will especially be targeted to receive the support.