Reuters AlertNet - Only fraction of vowed tsunami aid given--S.Lanka

Reuters AlertNet - Only fraction of vowed tsunami aid given--S.Lanka: "Only fraction of vowed tsunami aid given--S.Lanka
03 Mar 2005 06:22:42 GMT

Source: Reuters

By Chamintha Thilakarathna
COLOMBO, March 3 (Reuters) - Donors may have pledged billions of dollars in tsunami aid, but so far ravaged Sri Lanka has received less than $75 million -- or around 4 percent -- of its estimated reconstruction costs, the government says.
'It is two months after the tsunami, but we still haven't been able to transform pledges and commitments into real cash,' Treasury Secretary P.B Jayasundara told an audience of bankers, entrepreneurs and economic analysts late on Wednesday.
'There is a major mismatch between donor commitment and their transformation of pledges into reality versus what is exactly happening on the ground,' he said."