Friday, 24 December 2021 (YJC)_ Sri Lanka has said it plans to pay $ 251 million to import oil from Iran by sending tea to the country.
Sri Lanka has said it plans to pay $ 251 million to import oil from Iran by sending tea to the country.
Sri Lankan Agriculture Minister Ramesh Patirana told Reuters he planned to send tea to Iran in January.
The Sri Lankan official said:
We hope to send $ 5 million a month in tea to repay overdue oil purchases from Iran over the past four years.
Sri Lanka is due to repay about $ 4.5 billion in debt next year, starting with $ 500 million in international government bonds due in January, but Sri Lanka's foreign exchange reserves fell to $ 1.6 billion by the end of November, according to the Bank of Sri Lanka. .
The Sri Lankan Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement that the barter with Iran "does not violate any UN or US sanctions, as tea is classified as a humanitarian commodity and at the same time none of the blacklisted Iranian banks in the list "There are no deals."
The following is the statement:
"This proposed arrangement will save the foreign currencies needed for Sri Lanka, because the settlement with Iran will be in Sri Lankan rupees and through the sale of Ceylon tea."