Finance Minister meets IMF Managing Director in Washington

Jan 16, 2019 (LBO) – Sri Lankan delegation headed by Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera has met with Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the IMF in Washington D.C. yesterday to have discussions on the possibility of resuming the IMF programme in Sri Lanka. The Finance Ministry released a statement saying Minister Samaraweera at the meeting updated the IMF management on the recent developments regarding the Sri Lankan economy.



"The Sri Lankan delegation discussed the possibility of resuming the IMF programme with a view to stabilizing the economy following the disruptions of post-26th October and stressed on Sri Lanka’s commitment to the economic reform agenda," the ministry said.

The IMF has disbursed over 1 billion US dollars out of a 1.5 billion dollars three-year Extended Fund Facility (EFF) loan it had agreed in 2016.



"IMF Managing Director Ms. Lagarde stated that the IMF remains ready to support Sri Lankan authorities in these endeavors and a team from the IMF is scheduled to visit Colombo in February 2019 to resume programme discussions." The delegation included Non-Cabinet Minister Harsha de Silva, Treasury Secretary R.H.S. Samaratunga, Central Bank Governor Indrajit Coomaraswamy, Senior Deputy Governor N.







P. Weerasinghe, Economics Advisor to Minister Deshal de Mel and Executive Director of the IMF for Sri Lanka M.



Siriwardena.