Sri Lankan delegation set to meet IMF officials in Washington

Washington: Amid Sri Lanka’s severe economic crisis, a high-level delegation, including the country’s Central Bank governor and other senior officials, will attend an International Monetary Fund (IMF) meeting in Washington DC today. Earlier, former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa was scheduled to visit Washington for the meeting with IMF to seek a debt re-restructuring and a bailout, however, following the en masse resignation of the Sri Lankan cabinet on 3 April, the delegation in Sri Lanka only consists of officials. The meeting comes about a fortnight after the global lender released the Staff Report of the Article IV consultations held between IMF and Sri Lankan officials. The IMF had made the recommendations in its staff report made for the global lender’s executive board following the conclusion of its Article IV consultations with Sri Lanka.

The IMF noted that the country faces mounting challenges, including public debt that has risen to unsustainable levels, low foreign currency reserves, and persistently large financing needs in the coming years.

The report recommended implementing a credible and coherent strategy to restore macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability while protecting vulnerable groups and reducing poverty through strengthened, well-targeted social safety nets. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in a national address on 20 March said that he had given the go-ahead for an IMF programme after meeting senior staff of the lender in Colombo. Sri Lanka’s economy has been in a free fall since the COVID-19 pandemic due to the crash of the tourism sector. The country’s foreign reserves have dried up and the country is facing a severe shortage of fuel and other essential commodities. Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.