The International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation concluded its mission to Sri Lanka by stating that maintaining the momentum of economic reform and ensuring prompt implementation of the programme’s commitments are essential for Sri Lanka to recover from the economic crisis.
The mission discussed recent economic developments, the implementation of the IMF-supported program, additional fiscal efforts that will be necessary to ensure Sri Lanka is able to successfully mobilize its revenues, the debt restructuring procedure, not to mention the ongoing negotiations with both domestic and foreign creditors.
Issuing a statement following their visit, the IMF team said, “Achieving timely restructuring agreements with creditors in line with the program targets by the time of the first review is essential to restoring debt sustainability. Keeping up the reform momentum and ensuring timely implementation of program commitments, including to ensure central bank independence, improve governance, and protect the vulnerable, are key for Sri Lanka to emerge from the economic crisis”.
a team from the IMF led by Messrs. From May 11 to May 23, Peter Breuer and Masahiro Nozaki visited Colombo with their employees.
The staff team acknowledged that, as a result of aggressive policy efforts, the macroeconomic situation in Sri Lanka is beginning to show tentative signs of improvement, with inflation moderating, the exchange rate stabilizing, and the Central Bank building reserves buffers. This is true even though recent macroeconomic and financial sector developments were discussed during the meeting.
However, they showed that the general macroeconomic and policy climate is still difficult despite these developments.
“We welcome the authorities’ ongoing efforts in meeting key commitments under the Fundsupported program. Performance under the program will be formally assessed in the context of the first review of the Extended Fund Facility arrangement, which is expected to be undertaken in September 2023”, the statement further read.
The IMF staff delegation met with the president and minister of finance Ranil Wickremesinghe, the governor Weerasinghe, the secretary to the Treasury Siriwardana, senior government officials, opposition party members, CSOs, think tanks, trade unions, the private sector, and development partners during their visit.
In closing, the statement said, “We would like to thank the authorities for the open and collaborative discussions and look forward to our continued close engagement.”
