IMF approves $2.6 bn loan to Sri Lanka

September 23rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - The World Bank on Tuesday approved a 4.3 billion dollars loan for India to finance infrastructure projects, to help maintain credit growth levels, employment growth, support social banking and help strengthen the economic recovery from the global financial crisis. The loan includes a 2 billion dollar loan, which is designed for Banking Sector Support Loan, which would to boost the capital of state banks and maintain credit growth.

September 17th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The cabinet Thursday approved a proposal to avail Japanese assistance to create the western arm of a dedicated freight corridor costing Rs.26,124 crore. In the first phase, Japan will provide a soft loan of Rs.17,700 crore to cover the Rewari-Vadodara section, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told reporters here after a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

August 6th, 2009 CHENNAI - Tamil Nadu Government on Thursday sent the fourth installment of relief material worth Rs 15 crores for Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka, who are confined to displacement camps. More than 2,80,000 civilians are held in sprawling camps in the north since May, when government troops crushed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to end a 25-year-old war.

July 29th, 2009 Iran approves $280 million loan for BoliviaLA PAZ, Bolivia — Iran's top diplomat in Bolivia says the Islamic republic has approved a $280 million low-interest loan for President Evo Morales' government to use as it sees fit. Gas and oil exploration are possibilities.

July 25th, 2009 IMF approves $2.6 billion loan to Sri LankaCOLOMBO, Sri Lanka — The International Monetary Fund has given final approval for a $2.6 billion loan for Sri Lanka despite calls from human rights groups that the island nation should first address concerns over its human rights record. Some $322.2 million of the loan will be immediately available to Sri Lanka.

July 23rd, 2009 Rights group urges Sri Lanka aid rethinkCOLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka's government should be forced to rectify serious human rights abuses before it receives an emergency loan from the International Monetary Fund, a human rights group said Thursday. The IMF has given initial approval for a $2.5 billion loan to help Sri Lanka with reconstruction after the end of its 25-year civil war with ethnic Tamil rebels.

July 21st, 2009 Plan to pay off King Papers wins council approvalATLANTA — The Atlanta City Council has cleared the way for a civil and human rights museum to pay off $11.5 million on a loan so it can acquire display rights to thousands of documents of the late Martin Luther King Jr. Private fundraising had slowed efforts in a bad economy to pay off the original $32 million loan taken out in 2006 to buy the historic trove of 10,000 documents.

July 1st, 2009 MANILA - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $100-million loan to undertake developmental projects in China's northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, officials said Wednesday. The Xinjiang Urban Transport and Environmental Improvement Project, which will receive the money, will also initiate projects to protect the environment, the bank said.

June 5th, 2009 EU approves loans to VolvoBRUSSELS — The European Union has approved loan guarantees to Ford Motor Co.'s Volvo unit to help it build cleaner cars. The European Commission says Volvo is planning to use euro500 million ($708 million) from the European Investment Bank for its euro1.9 billion ($2.7 billion) project to develop more fuel-efficient low-emissions vehicles.

May 20th, 2009 NEW DELHI - National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan will be leaving for Sri Lanka Wednesday afternoon to discuss the rehabilitation of Tamil civilians in the war-ravaged island nation.

May 5th, 2009 IMF urged to link Sri Lanka loan to rightsCOLOMBO, Sri Lanka — The International Monetary Fund must insist that Sri Lanka's government respect media rights and the rule of law before granting any new lending, a press freedom group said Tuesday. The Sri Lankan military's recent successes against separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in the north have been accompanied by a "ruthless campaign" against the media and dissidents, the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders wrote in a letter to the IMF.

April 22nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Congress, India's main ruling party, Wednesday urged Sri Lanka to declare ceasefire to resolve the humanitarian crisis in the island nation and allow Tamil civilians to move out of the conflict zone. 'The Indian National Congress calls upon the Sri Lankan government to declare a ceasefire so that the humanitarian crisis can be resolved in a demonstrable way,' the party said in a statement.

April 20th, 2009 COLOMBO - At least 17 people were killed in a suicide bomb blast in Sri Lanka Monday, the defence ministry said.

March 22nd, 2009 COLOMBO - An International Monetary Fund (IMF) team is to hold talks with Sri Lanka Sunday and finalise its request for a $1.9 billion standby loan to prop up the country's dwindling foreign exchange reserves, media reports here said. Responding to reports that conditions may be attached to the IMF loan, a Central Bank official said that there had 'so far been no talks on conditions'.

February 25th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government is alive to the threat of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) attempting to infiltrate its operatives into south India via Sri Lanka and has taken steps to counter this, Home Minister P. Chidambaram said Wednesday.