IMF team to hold talks with Sri Lanka govt on loans for economic recovery

A high-level team of the International Monetary Fund will arrive in Sri Lanka on Wednesday to meet the new government headed by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and discuss the latest economic reforms supported by the global lender.

On September 24, the IMF said that they would begin talks with the new Lanka government led by President Dissanayake. The global lender said it will discuss the timing of the third review of its ongoing economic reform under a 48-month loan.

Former president Ranil Wickremesinghe-led government was negotiating with the IMF for the release of the fourth tranche of the USD 2.9 billion facility.

A high-level team led by Krishna Srinivasan, Director for the Asia Pacific Department will be visiting Colombo October 2-4 to meet with President Dissanayake and the new economic team to discuss the latest economic developments and economic reforms under Sri Lankas economic programme supported by the IMF," a release said.

This will be the National People's Power (NPP) government's first interaction with the international lender after being elected on September 21.

On September 23, Dissanayake was sworn in as Sri Lanka's ninth president, amid hopes that he will bolster the country's economy and eliminate corruption.

Dissanayake, the leader of the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna party's broader front National People's Power (NPP), defeated his closest rival Sajith Premadasa of Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) in the presidential election.

Dissananayake's JVP-led NPP has pledged to renegotiate the IMF deal citing it has led to some unbearable difficulties for common people.

The meeting would be crucial to negotiating with the IMF for the release of the fourth tranche of the USD 2.9 billion facility. The third review and the release of the fourth tranche were put back due to the election.

Originally, the fourth tranche was scheduled for December this year after the completion of the third review.

Ahead of the IMF visit, the government policymakers on Monday said the plan to restructure the national carrier Srilankan Airlines has been abandoned. There has been no official statement though.

The airline restructuring figured in the IMF's governance diagnostic report concerning the loss-making state-owned enterprises.

In July, the Wickremesinghe government said it had scrapped its plan to sell the airline despite shortlisting three potential partners.