Crisis-ridden Sri Lanka has zeroed in on seven classes of products, aside from petroleum merchandise, for sourcing from India this yr, utilising the traces of credit score that New Delhi has prolonged to Colombo, sources instructed FE. These merchandise embody important meals gadgets, medicines, cement, textiles, animal fodder, uncooked supplies for key industries and fertilisers.
Lankan importers are inserting their items necessities accordingly with suppliers right here. Indian exporters are required to strategy State Bank of India, which has signed an settlement to increase $1-billion credit score line to the island nation, for fee, one of many sources stated.
Given that Sri Lanka is going through its worst financial turmoil since 1948, triggered by a international trade disaster, it needs to limit imports to solely important merchandise.
The island nation has been looking for an extra $2 billion line of credit score to tide over the disaster. India has already supplied $1.5-billion traces of credit score to it since January. These embody $1 billion for imports of meals, drugs and important gadgets and one other $500 million for petroleum merchandise. On prime of those, India’s help additionally features a $400-million RBI foreign money swap and a deferral of a $500-million mortgage reimbursement.
Domestic exporters are already apprehending a pointy drop in provides to Sri Lanka in FY23 from a document $5.7 billion within the final fiscal, as authorities there have resorted to import curbs.
New Delhi’s main exports to Columbo embody petroleum merchandise, prescription drugs, metal, textiles (primarily cloth and yarn), meals merchandise and cars. Exports of many of those merchandise to Sri Lanka are going to ease in FY23.
While any potential fall in India’s exports to Sri Lanka and Nepal (the latter, too, has imposed restricted import curbs to preserve international trade reserves), given the restricted commerce worth, they, nonetheless, add to an array of exterior headwinds for Indian exporters, most notably the large supply-chain disruption within the wake of the Ukraine disaster. Moreover, the crises come at a time when India is looking for to construct on its strong export efficiency in FY22.
Sri Lanka and Nepal imported merchandise price $15 billion from India in FY22, up about 50% from the pandemic yr of FY21. India was the most important exporter of products to each Nepal and Sri Lanka in FY22.
Much relies on additional help by India and Sri Lanka’s dialogue with the IMF for a bailout bundle, exporters have stated.
Sri Lanka’s GDP contracted by a document 3.6% in 2020 and its international trade reserves crashed by 70% within the final two years to about $2.31 billion by February, resulting in a pointy depreciation of its foreign money. Meanwhile, its debt has swelled to $51 billion.
Source: www.financialexpress.com”