Sri Lanka’s lately released Central Bank Annual Report highlights that total foreign grants received by Sri Lanka from multilateral and bilateral sources during 2018 increased to Rs. 12.5 billion from Rs. 8 billion in 2017. Accordingly, grants from multilateral sources declined significantly by 30.3% to Rs. 3.8 billion in 2018 compared to Rs. 5.5 billion recorded in 2017. Further, the share of grants from multilateral sources declined significantly to 30.6%cent from 68.2 per cent recorded in 2017, according to Central bank Annual Report 2018.

The report notes that, grants from bilateral sources increased significantly to Rs. 8.7 billion in 2018 from Rs. 2.6 billion in 2017. The major development partners who provided grants during the year were the Government of Japan, the Government of India and the World Bank.

- Reporting by Devendra Francis