IMF talks in Sri Lanka successful, says PM
COLOMBO: Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe says that Sri Lanka’s discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had ended successfully.
He stated that the next step is to submit a report on debt restructuring.
Wickremesinghe stated this while delivering a special statement in Parliament on Tuesday (05) regarding the progress of negotiations with the IMF.
Sri Lanka has so far held several rounds of negotiations with the International Monetary Fund.
Meanwhile an IMF team had visited Sri Lanka last month for talks on a bailout program. The IMF team had visited visiting Colombo from June 20 to 30 to continue talks on what would be Sri Lanka’s 17th rescue program.
The prime minister said Sri Lanka’s negotiations with the IMF are more complex and difficult than in the past because it is a bankrupt nation.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told lawmakers that recent discussions with a visiting IMF mission were fruitful but not as straightforward as in the past.
“Our country has held talks with the IMF on many occasions before. But this time the situation is different from all those previous occasions. In the past, we have held discussions as a developing country,” Wickremesinghe said.
“But now the situation is different. We are now participating in the negotiations as a bankrupt country. Therefore, we have to face a more difficult and complicated situation,” he said in explaining a roadmap for recovery from Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis in memory.
Wickremesinghe said earlier that a preliminary agreement has been submitted to the IMF’s board of directors for approval.
“But due to the state of bankruptcy our country is in, we have to submit a plan on our debt sustainability to them separately. Only when they are satisfied with that plan can we reach an agreement at the staff level. This is not a straight-forward process,” said Wickremesinghe.
He said Sri Lanka’s financial legal advisors are working on a debt sustainability report to be submitted in August.
Discussions are underway with India, Japan and China to form an aid consortium once a staff-level agreement with the IMF is reached, Wickremesinghe said.