Announcement of Meeting of Sri Lanka Aid Group Washington, April 29, 1977 on May 2, 1977

.world Bank 1B 1H H Street, N.W., VVashington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A. • Telephone: (202) 393-6360 <t13 ~AV 2, 1977 MEETING OF SRI LANKA AID GROUP Washington, April 29, 1977 The following announcement was issued at the World Rank's Headquarters in Washington. The Thirteenth Meeting of the Sri Lanka Aid Group was held in Washington under the chairmanship of the World Bank. The following countries were represented: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. Representatives of the International Monetary Fund, the Asian Development Bank, the United Nations Development Programme and observers for Denmark. India, Italy and Norway also attended. The Sri Lanka Delegation was led by Dr. H. A. de S. Gunasekera, Secretary of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs. • Sri Lanka's Delegation reviewed the country's economic performance during its first five year plan period, which ended in 1976. It attributed Sri Lanka's failure to achieve targeted growth rates to the adverse impact of droughts and floods on domestic agriculture and exports, and the sharp deterioration in its terms of trade. The Delegation noted that crop prospects for 1977 would benefit from improved weather conditions and that the balance · of payments position was much improved on account of the sharp increase in tea prices. It also highlighted Sri Lanka's achievements in the social field and pointed to major productive investments in recent years, particularly in agriculture and irrigation. Aid Group members expressed appreciation of Sri Lanka's considerable social achievement and reaffirmed their intentions to assist in its economic development. The Group welcomed the improvement in Sri Lanka's terms of trade and emphasized the opportunity this presented to pursue a much needed program to increase savings and investment and raise the rate of economic growth. It expressed concern that recent policy measures may make more difficult the task of reconciling the competing claims on resources of Sri LAnka's legitimate social aspiration and faster economic growth. The Aid Group indicated the possibility of a substantial increase of its support to Sri Lanka if an expanded investment program was formulated and translated into development projects. In this context, it emphasized the need to strengthen the pipeline of projects available for financing, and some members offered Sri Lanka further technical assistance in project preparation. • Aid indications for 1977 ware significantly higher than actual commitments in 1976 .