Speaking at a press briefing in Colombo on Friday the President of the bank Haruhiko Kuroda said the ADB would further support infrastructure development in Sri Lanka.

He said that he had the opportunity to visit water and sanitation projects as well as the hospitals in Mannar and Killinochchi.

Kuroda noted that despite Sri Lanka facing formidable challenges the country could achieve a six percent growth rate as predicted.

He stressed that inclusive and equitable growth needs to be top on the policy agenda for all sectors of society to benefit from development.

Kuroda urged the government to move towards rapid reconstruction of the war affected areas in the North and East in order for normalcy to be restored.

He further suggested that there needs to be close co-operation between the government and private sector to maximise the benefit of available recourses.

The ADB has approved a $150 million emergency assistance loan for Sri Lanka for the reconstruction in the war affected areas.