The Chinese embassy in Colombo said on its Twitter page that China had saved Sri Lanka from the debt trap of the West.
Sri Lanka has so far received only 10 percent of its international debt to China. The Chinese embassy quoted the Central Bank of Sri Lanka as saying on Twitter that it was $ 3,388.2 million.
The Chinese embassy pointed out that in 2017, when the Sri Lankan government was preparing to lease the port of Hambantota, China volunteered to help and save Sri Lanka from the debt trap.
Sri Lanka leased the port of Hambantota in 2017 due to a lack of dollars to pay for international bonds.
Apart from this, the Chinese embassy has stated that the Sri Lankan government has not provided the port of Hambantota to China for the loan to be paid to the Exim Bank of China.
In 2017, Sri Lankan gov't decided to raise much-needed dollars by leasing out the Hambantota Port and used the cash infusion to pay back due International Sovereign Bonds (ISB), not to pay off China Eximbank.
In other words, China saved Sri Lanka from the Western "Debt Trap". pic.twitter.com/ojL5C9jnYh
— Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka (@ChinaEmbSL) November 28, 2021
