Sri Lanka's defense expenditure minimum in the war with the rebels

 Sri Lanka's military battle with the Tamil Tiger rebels during its last decisive phase between 2006 to 2009 had cost only 5.5 billion U.S. dollars, said a top official said here Thursday.

Addressing a three-day seminar on Sri Lanka's experience on defeating terrorism, Central Bank Governor Ajith Cabraal Cabraal said the country's war cost was only 14 percent of the training budget of the U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Cabraal said a major effort was needed during the war to maintain a positive outlook of the island's economy.

"There were attempts to indirectly pressurize Sri Lanka in order to keep the country's economy in a state of uncertainty," Cabraal said.

The conflict which raged in the mid 1980s had cost Sri Lanka one to two percent growth of its gross domestic product annually, Cabraal said.

The conflict ended in May 2009 with the military defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels.

In 2010 the first full year of peace the economy recorded eight percent growth. It is projected to grow 8.5 percent in 2011.

The three-day seminar aimed at sharing Sri Lanka's military success was attended by over 40 nations with over 300 participants.

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