Sri Lanka has received the first tranche of anIMF bailoutprogramme, PresidentRanil Wickremesinghetold parliament.
The crisis-ridden island nation was scheduled to receive a $330 million tranche, the first part of a nearly $3 billion bailout approved by the (IMF).
The IMF bailout is expected to catalyse additional support to the tune of $3.75 billion from the likes of the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and other lenders. It clears the way for Sri Lanka to rework a substantial part of its $84 billion worth of Public Debt.
This was the 17thIMF bailout for Sri Lankaand the third since the country’s decades-long civil war ended in 2009.
India can emerge as a Biodiversity champion
Biodiversity, the totality and variety of our biological Resources, is crucial to the survival of the world. The United Nations Biodiversity Conference in Montreal, Canada, made a strong case for the value of our planets biodiversity. The 2030 commitment, which aims to stop and reverse biodiversity loss by protecting 30% of the worlds land and 30% of its Oceans by 2030, was ratified on December 19, 2022, by delegates from 188 nations
India is in a prime position to lead the world in becoming biodiversity champions because it currently has 17% of the worlds Population and 17% of the worlds biodiversity hotspots
According to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), there may be as many as 13 million species, although only 1.75 million have been recognised yet, including a large number of insects