By Amith Gamage in Ceylon Today, Aug 19, 2023
It has been revealed that though Sri Lanka had received fuel from Iran, in exchange for tea, during the early part of last year, to tide over its dollar and economic crisis, thus far the Government has failed to keep up its promise to Tehran.
It has come to light that though Sri Lanka had received USD 250 million worth of fuel from Iran, the Government has to date reneged on its promise to that country to send tea valued at the same price.
It has been alleged that the failure of the CPC to deposit the requisite finances to Sri Lanka Tea had created this unwarranted situation.
These details had surfaced following a recent discussion held by the President along with his Chief of Staff Sagala Ratnayake with a group of local tea exporters in Colombo.
However, following instructions from the President it had been decided to send across monthly tea stocks to Tehran worth USD 5 million.
The officials had also consented to depositing the requisite funds to the Tea Board following talks with the officials from the CPC.
As part of this process, the first such consignment of tea had been sent to Iran during the past week, while the officials from the Tea Exporters Association (TEA) had informed the officials at the Presidential Secretariat that the price of a kilo of tea, which had decreased in the recent past, had increased to Rs 200 per kilo.
https://ceylontoday.lk/2023/08/19/fuel-for-tea-deal-sl-breaks-promise-to-iran/
