Sri Lanka's finance minister responded to comments from China's ambassador over Chinese loans to the island, as the spat between the two figures deepened this week.
China's Ambassador Yi Xianliang lashed out at minister Ravi Karunanayake after he criticised Chinese funding as "expensive loans". “We have regular, or fixed interest ratio for any developing country – 2%, not only for Sri Lanka... If you have some comparison with the commercial loan, commercial loan at least 5%.”
“I talked with Ravi,” he continued. “You know Ravi criticises this issue many times, publicly. I ask him... If you don’t like this, you criticize this issue many times, publicly. Ask him, if you don’t like this one, why you come again, to talk with me about another one.”
The ambassador went on to state that Sri Lanka's finance minister had personally told him that Colombo had managed to secure a 50 million dollar loan from Europe last year at a rate of 5.8 per cent, much higher than China's claimed rate of 2 per cent. He also added that "internal issues" within the Sri Lankan government was a stumbling block to further Chinese-funded development projects on the island.
In response, Sri Lanka's finance minister told a press conference:
"I am the Sri Lankan Finance Minister, not the Chinese Finance Minister. My effort is to save even a penny for the Sri Lankan people."
Mr Karunanayake went on to claim that Sri Lanka was paying much higher than 2 per cent. "If he says they have not given loans with interest more than 2 per cent we are happy - because then we have only have to pay 2 per cent then."
