World Bank has endorsed a US$ 900 million package to Sri Lanka under the World Bank Group’s Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) for Sri Lanka for the period July 2008 to June 2011, World Bank said.

The CAS is aligned with Mahinda Chintana, the Government’s 10-year economic development framework which aims at accelerating growth, with particular emphasis on equitable development.

The strategy is focused on three objectives: The first is to expand economic opportunities in lagging regions to achieve more balanced growth by supporting rehabilitation of roads, irrigation networks, and water supply. Second, the CAS centers on improving the investment climate and competitiveness to encourage private sector investments and growth. The third objective is to enhance quality services and accountability to improve education, health, social safety nets, and environmental protection. A substantive share of the resources during this CAS period is devoted to roads, particularly the provincial roads to improve inter connectivity among regions to facilitate faster development in the lagging regions.

The design of the CAS is based on extensive consultations both with the Government and with a broad cross-section of Sri Lankan society across many parts of the country.

“The assistance strategy aims to sustain the impressive poverty reduction that Sri Lanka has achieved the last five years,” said Naoko Ishii, World Bank Country Director for Sri Lanka, “The CAS is designed to deliver positive development outcomes in poor and underserved areas, including the conflict-affected North and the East"