EU grants 70-million-euro loan to tsunami-hit Sri Lanka

The European Investment Bank (EIB) announced Friday that it was providing a 70 million euro (84 million US dollars) loan to Sri Lanka to help rebuild the country's small and medium-sized industries, tourism, and other sectors affected by the Tsunami disaster in 2004.

The Luxembourg-based bank said the long-term funding would finance up to 75 percent of the total investment of reconstruction projects in infrastructure, tourism, energy and telecommunications related sectors in Sri Lanka.

"By focusing on the private sector's reconstruction efforts, a renewed drive for investment is expected to enhance employment creation and indirectly reduce poverty and improve human welfare," the EIB said in a press release.

The European Union (EU) had pledged over 200 million euros (240 million dollars) to Sri Lanka. Friday's credit line, which forms part of the funds pledged, is in addition to around 130 million euros (156 million dollars) given earlier as grants.

Nearly 40,000 people died and a million were left homeless when the giant waves struck south, east and northern coastal areas in Sri Lanka in 2004.

Source: Xinhua