India hands over 75 buses to Sri Lanka for its public transport system
- In December, India handed over 125 Mahindra Scorpio SUVs to the Sri Lanka Police under an existing line of credit.
India has handed over 75 passenger buses to cash-strapped Sri Lanka to help it strengthen its public transport system. India's assistance to the country is part of its 'Neighbourhood First’ policy. A total of 500 buses will be supplied to Sri Lanka through Indian assistance, the Indian High Commission here said in a statement.
In December, India handed over 125 Mahindra Scorpio SUVs to the Sri Lanka Police under a line of credit to support the island nation and help it address the serious mobility restriction issues faced by the police, due to the non-availability of vehicles. This is out of a total of 500 total units promised to the country by India.
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India has extended multi-pronged assistance to the country to help it tide over its worst economic and humanitarian crisis since its independence from Great Britain in 1948. In May last year, the Sri Lankan government declared a debt default on over $51 billion in the foreign loan, a first in the country’s history.
As a good neighbour extending much-needed support to another neighbour in need, India gave financial assistance of nearly $4 billion to Sri Lanka during the year. While in January, India announced a $900 million loan to Sri Lanka to build up its depleted foreign reserves as the financial crisis began to unfold.
Later, it offered a $500 million credit line to Sri Lanka to fund the country’s fuel purchases. The credit line was later expanded to $700 million due to the sheer gravity of the situation. The Indian credit lines since early 2022 have been in use to import essentials and fuel after street protests erupted due to severe shortages of essentials.