IMF staff team continues fact finding mission on economic reforms

The IMF representatives are now attending meetings with officials from the Finance Ministry and Central Bank.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff team is now in Sri Lanka for a crucial assessment of the country's economic situation.

The IMF staff mission will continue discussions and assessments for a period of one week on the country’s fulfillment of commitments under the economic reforms programme approved by the IMF, State Minister of Finance Shehan Semasinghe said.

Furthermore, the IMF representatives are now attending meetings with officials from the Finance Ministry and Central Bank.

They will evaluate the process of economic reforms carried out within the country, following the IMF’s approval of the first review under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement for Sri Lanka, he added.

This mission is a staff visit. It is kind of a fact finding or technical mission, IMF Director of Communications Julie Kozack told a media conference in Washington this week.

The aim of this mission is to discuss recent developments and to follow up on economic reform programme targets and commitments, she added.

The IMF team’s visit is significant ahead of the second review under the EFF arrangement which is expected to be completed by the end of the first half of 2024, The mission for the next programme review will take place later on. The next steps on the debt restructuring are to conclude the negotiations with external commercial creditors and to implement agreements with official creditors.

The domestic debt operations for Sri Lanka have been largely completed, she said adding that. Sri Lanka has to enter into agreements with its official and private creditors before the second review of the EFF.