USAIDs Samantha Power leaves Sri Lanka

COLOMBO (News 1st); Administrator for the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Samantha Power, who was in Sri Lanka on a two-day official visit, left the country on Monday (12).

According to the BIA, she left Sri Lanka at about 5:30 this morning onboard a Qatar Airways flight.

On Saturday, the Administrator traveled to Ja-Ela, a town outside Colombo, and visited rice paddy fields where she sat down with farmers to hear about their experiences coping with fertilizer shortages, inflation, and decreased wages.

The Administrator announced $40 million in new USAID development assistance, subject to Congressional approval, to provide fertilizer to approximately one million Sri Lankan farmers.

On Sunday (11), Administrator Samantha Power announced an additional $20 million in humanitarian assistance to support Sri Lankans during the complex emergency that has resulted in a severe economic crisis leaving 5.7 million people in urgent need of food, agriculture, livelihood support, protection, and more. 

The two announcements made in Sri Lanka this weekend brings the total U.S. government assistance to Sri Lanka to nearly $240 million. 

On top of the USAID total contribution of $92 million, there is also $120 million from the U.S. Development Finance Corporation that will bolster the Sri Lankan economy, especially small and medium-sized enterprises and $27 million in grant technical assistance through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which supports food security and economic growth by helping participating Sri Lankan dairy farmers double their milk production. 

This humanitarian and technical assistance is in addition to USAID’s ongoing development assistance in partnership with the government, the private sector, civil society, and the people of Sri Lanka.