Whilst reports earlier this week highlighted that Sri Lanka has proposed to settle Oil debt amounting to over US $ 250 million in a swap with Tea, a recent report in Iranian English Economic Daily - Financial Tribune outlined that Iran has described the move as “impossible”.

The report added that Lucille Wijewardena, Chairman of Sri Lankan Tea Syndicate, said the offer made by the syndicate is an attempt to get round restrictions on transactions with Iranian banks. Sales and Marketing Manager of Iran Tea Organization Goudarz Khordadpour had explained to reporters that as Iran produces 25,000 tons of tea annually and its import needs stand at a maximum of 55,000 tons worth US $ 275,000.

The report pointed out that the money Ceylon Petroleum Corporation–Sri Lanka’s state-owned fuel supplier–owes Iran is 900 times as much as Iran’s entire tea import bill, quoting Mehr News Agency.

- Reporting by Devendra Francis