ADB lends US $ 250mn for Sri Lanka’s capital market development

•  Loan to be disbursed in two equal tranches
• Finance Ministry is executing agency 

From left: Insurance Board of Sri Lanka Chairperson Indrani Sugathadasa, Finance Ministry Secretary Dr. R.H.S. Samarathunga, ADB Country Director Sri Widowati and Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Thilak Karunaratne

CB, IBSL, SEC and SLAASMB are implementing agencies 
The Sri Lankan government has entered into a loan agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to obtain a loan of US $ 250 million from the Ordinary Capital Resources Fund of ADB to implement the Capital Market Development Programme (CMDP) in Sri Lanka. 
The main objective of the CMDP is to ensure that the capital market in Sri Lanka is more effective in mobilizing resources for the economy’s financing requirements to better promote growth and development. 

Under the CMDP, it is desired to develop an efficient, stable and transparent capital market, which is a highly proficient conduit for resource mobilization with a strong legal and regulatory framework. 

Increasing the capacity and size of the capital market through enhanced market facilitation, demand measures and supply measures are also identified as objectives of the CMDP.
The proposed loan of US $ 250 million will be disbursed in two tranches of approximately US $ 125 million each based on the accomplishment of the policy actions relevant for each of the tranches. The Finance Ministry will be the executing agency of the programme, whereas the Central Bank (CB) of Sri Lanka, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Insurance Board of Sri Lanka (IBSL) and Sri Lanka Accounting and Auditing Standards Monitoring Board (SLAASMB) will be the implementing agencies. 

In this connection, Finance Ministry Secretary Dr. R.H.S. Samarathunga on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka and ADB Sri Lanka Resident Mission Country Director Sri Widowati on behalf of ADB signed the loan agreement on November 24 at the Finance Ministry.