By Walter Jayawardhana

To rebuild the ruined economy of Sri Lanka by the 26-year old war with the Tamil Tigers Asian Development Bank (ADB) has decided to increase its loan for 2010 by 50 percent , the bank sources said.

Accordingly Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s annual allocation of US $200 million has been increased to US $ 300 million, the same sources revealed.

The bankƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s lead economist for South Asia, Narhari Rao who is in Colombo these days said, the loan will fund roads, power, water and sanitation projects in the North and the East among other projects.

The favorable increase of loan from the ADB came in the same week the IMF has reached a staff level decision to grant a US 2.5 billion standby loan to Sri Lanka following much speculation that it would not be granted.

The aid and investments are sought by the Mahinda Rajapaksa government for an ambitious development program Uthuru Wasanthaya to rebuild the economy of the North and other development schemes in the South.

Bank official Rao said, that the ADB is trying to push ahead on various fronts to develop the country as it is the right time to do so.