04 March 2005	Friday	22 Muharram 1426

COLOMBO, March 3: International donors who outbid each other to pledge tsunami relief to Sri Lanka have failed to deliver and the island has received only a fraction of the promised cash, a top official said on Thursday.

Finance Secretary P. B. Jayasundara said the pledging frenzy after the December 26 tsunamis that devastated the island's coastline and killed nearly 31,000 people had evaporated and the cash had been slow in coming.

"Although pledges are high, less than 40 million dollars has been converted into real cash so far," Jayasundara was quoted as saying on the website Lankabusinessonline.com.

The government had said earlier it had received pledges of over one billion dollars for tsunami relief. The government has said it needs more than 500 million dollars in 2005 alone to pay for reconstruction.

The total reconstruction bill, to be spread over several years with the money to come from various countries and international lenders, is estimated at 1.8 billion dollars. Jayasundara's comments came after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last week asked Sri Lanka to make sure it gets the pledged international aid or risk economic disaster.

The IMF told the government to firm up promised international support amid fears many potential donors might not honour commitments made in the wake of the tsunami devastation. "Aid pledges by donors have been impressive but commitments for 2005 still need to be firmed up," the IMF said. -AFP