Chinese EXIM Bank increases interest rate from 2.5 per cent to 3.5 per cent

A sum of US $ 500 million is expected to be obtained from the EXIM Bank of China

- By YOHAN PERERA AND AJITH SIRIWARDANA

The Committee on Public Finance (COPF) which said that EXIM Bank of China had increased the interest rate from the initially agreed 2.5 per cent to 3.5 per cent for the loan extended to finance the Kadawatha -Mirigama stretch of Central Express Way, requested the government to renegotiate it.

Expressing his views on the development, the COPF Chairman, Opposition MP Harsha de Silva, questioned the officials as to why they had agreed to an interest rate range increase up to 3.5 per cent, despite the initially proposed fixed rate being 2.5 per cent.

The officials from the Ministry of Transport, Highways, and Ports have informed the recent COPF meeting that a sum of US $ 500 million is expected to be obtained from the EXIM Bank of China for the Kadawatha - Mirigama stretch of the Central Expressway at a rate of 3.5 per cent.