IMF Review Postponed Until After Presidential Poll

COLOMBO (News 1st); Minister of State for Finance, Shehan Semasinghe, has declared that the third review of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Extended Fund Facility for Sri Lanka will be conducted after the upcoming presidential elections.

He said that a team from the IMF will arrive in Sri Lanka for the third review of the program.

The IMF's commitment to Sri Lanka was underscored by the recent visit of Mr. Peter Brewer, the head of the IMF mission. 

The International Monetary Fund warned that policy slippages could jeopardize Sri Lanka's path to recovery.

The IMF staff concluding its visit to Sri Lanka on Friday (2) said the economic reforms implemented by the Sri Lankan authorities have continued to support the recovery with three consecutive quarters of real GDP growth, low inflation, increased revenue collection, and a build-up of external reserves.

It said that decisive progress on the reform agenda is necessary to ensure a broad-based and stable economic recovery benefitting all of Sri Lanka’s people.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission team led by Senior Mission Chief Peter Breuer visited Sri Lanka from July 25 to August 2, 2024.

Under the current arrangement with the IMF, Sri Lanka so far receivd a total of one billion dollars, disbursed in three separate tranches.