Sri Lanka repaid its debt to Iran with tea
Sri Lanka, facing a severe economic and financial crisis, announced that it has transferred $20 million worth of tea to Iran as part of repaying its oil debt to the country.
Sri Lanka has a total oil debt of $251 million to Iran.
The office of Dinesh Gunawardena, the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, announced on Wednesday, February 21, after discussions with Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic, in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, that $20 million worth of tea has been exported to Iran so far based on a barter agreement.
The tea-for-oil exchange agreement between Iran and Sri Lanka was concluded in December 2021, but the transfer of tea to Iran was delayed due to Sri Lanka’s economic crisis.
This economic crisis led to the resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the then-president of Sri Lanka, in July 2022.
Iran, under severe economic sanctions, is trying to use its foreign currency earnings for other purposes by trading goods for oil.
