China is Sri Lanka’s leading lender at present, providing loan facilities amounting to around US$ 3 billion so far but at interest rates higher than that of multilateral agencies for the country’s infrastructure development and other mega projects, with the repayment period running up to 20 years, government officials said.
The Port of Colombo has dropped its throughput in the first four months of this year by about 6% owing to route changes adopted by major shipping lines, an official said.
The overall drop in volumes has been mainly due to certain shipping lines changing their routes without calling at the Colombo port, an official at the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) told the Business Times.
