Sri Lanka's Central Bank launches Green Finance Taxonomy amid economic crisis

Amid the country’s worst economic crisis since its independence, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka launched the Sri Lanka Green Finance Taxonomy during the John Exter International Conference Hall of the Central Bank held earlier this month. In a statement published Thursday, the Central bank said that the Sri Lanka Green Finance Taxonomy is a classification system which would define and categorizes economic activities that are environmentally sustainable. 

The Bank also said that the system is “a key action item outlined in the Roadmap for Sustainable Finance of Sri Lanka introduced by the Central Bank in 2019. The Taxonomy has been prepared in line with the international best practices, while harmonizing for local context, hence it is expected to enable financial market participants to raise low-cost funding for green activities through both domestic and foreign markets.”

“The Sri Lanka Green Finance Taxonomy would be applicable to all domestic and foreign market participants offering financial products (such as bank lending, debt instruments, portfolio management, and investment funds), large corporations, as well as national and local government bodies. It can also be used as a reference by the industrial planning authorities and served as the basis for local governments to support green industries covering a range of economic activities such as Forest and Logging, Agriculture, Manufacturing, Electric power generation, Transmission and distribution, Gas, steam and air conditioning supply, Water supply, sewerage and waste management, Construction, Transportation and storage, Financial services and Tourism and recreation,” the Sri Lankan Central bank added.

PM Wickremesinghe writes to opposition leader Premadasa

Meanwhile, days after assuming charge as Sri Lanka's new premiere, United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickremesinghe wrote to Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, urging his Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) party to join the government. According to a report by News Cutter, Wickremesinghe has also requested Premadasa to put traditional party politics aside and collaborate with him to overcome the worsening economic crisis in the island country. Earlier on Thursday, May 12, Premadasa had stated that his party will "devise a strategy" if Wickramasinghe is appointed as the next Prime Minister of the country. 

Prior to the appointment of Wickremesinghe as the Prime Minister, the SJB party, Sri Lanka's main Opposition, claimed that its leader Sajith Premadasa rejected an invitation from President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to lead an interim government. It stated that the President had called on Premadasa and invited him to take over as the interim Prime Minister of the country. "Premadasa will not accept premiership of an interim government but SJB will give conditional support for an interim government. We will only support an interim government which will carry out proposals made by the Bar Association of Sri Lanka," Tissa Attsnayake, SJB's national organizer, told Daily Mirror on May 8. 

Image: AP