IMF wants secrecy till final deal with Sri Lanka reached
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has told Sri Lanka not to release details of ongoing negotiations until a final agreement is reached, President Ranil Wickremesinghe said today.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe told Parliament today that a final deal has not yet been secured with the IMF.
“When I went to COP 27, I met IMF Managing Director and discussed where she promised to assist us. So do not worry about it. Therefore, we have only got to discuss with China and India. China asked us to commence talks after their party convention. Now talks have commenced. I request both countries to finalise it by the end of December,” the President said.
The President also said that there are alternatives in the event China or India does not agree to the terms to restructure Sri Lanka’s debt.
An IMF mission led by Peter Breuer and Masahiro Nozaki visited Colombo from August 24 to September 1, 2022 to continue discussions on IMF support for Sri Lanka and the authorities’ comprehensive economic reform program.
At the end of the mission the Sri Lankan authorities and the IMF team reached a staff-level agreement to support the authorities’ economic adjustment and reform policies with a new 48-month Extended Fund Facility (EFF) with a requested access of about SDR 2.2 billion (equivalent to US$2.9 billion). (Colombo Gazette)
