Sri Lanka's bankrupt economy has "no alternative" but to stick to the current USD 2.9 billion IMF bailout programme, central bank governor Nandalal Weerasinghem has said. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved the release of the second tranche worth USD 337 million to Sri Lanka earlier this month. Weerasinghe was responding to queries if the island nation was open to renegotiating the terms of the four-year programme on the back of claims by opposition parties that they would renegotiate conditions for the IMF's USD 2.9 billion bailout package. There is no alternative. The fact that we attempted alternatives was why we are here (bankruptcy) now, Weerasinghe told reporters on Friday. We have to go in the same path, say, if the period of debt restructuring allowed is 10 years if they (opposition) want to change it, the creditors can say, we don't support this anymore. If we were to leave the programme, we will have to pay USD 6 billion a year in repayments, Weerasinghe ...
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As a result, the IMF reclassified India's foreign-exchange regime to a "stabilized arrangement" from a "floating" system, it said in its annual Article IV country report released on Monday
"India has potential for even higher growth, with greater contributions from labour and human capital, if comprehensive reforms are implemented," the IMF said.
Growing at a robust rate due to economic reforms in key sectors like digitisation and infrastructure, India has emerged as a star performer and is projected to contribute more than 16 per cent of the global growth, the International Monetary Fund said on Monday. What we have been observing for quite some time now is that India has been growing at a very robust rate. It's one of the star performers when it comes to real growth when you look at peer countries. It's one of the fastest growing large emerging markets and it's contributing, in our current projections, more than 16 per cent of global growth this year, Nada Choueiri, the Mission of India at IMF, told PTI in an interview. The IMF on Monday released its annual Article IV consultation with India, according to which the South Asian country, underpinned by prudent macroeconomic policies, is on track to be one of the fastest-growing major economies in the world this year. Nonetheless, the economy is facing global headwinds, ...
Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Sunday said that there was no alternative to the IMF programme for the cash-strapped island nation to get out of its economic bankruptcy. Last week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved the release of the second tranche worth USD 337 million to the island nation, bringing the value of disbursements to USD 670 million in the four-year facility. Responding to the strong criticism from the opposition to the reforms, President Wickremesinghe, who is also the finance minister, said that he opted for the IMF programme as it was the only option available. People who make statements to please the gallery are not prepared to take the tough decisions needed. I opted for the IMF programme as it was the only option available, he said and urged all political parties to act responsibly while demeaning the USD 2.9 billion bailout. He added that tough decisions had to be taken to set in the reforms to correct the economic wrongs of the past.
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The IMF Executive Board has completed the first review under the 48-month Extended Fund Facility with Sri Lanka, providing the cash-strapped country with access to about USD 337 million to restore macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability. Announcing this, Peter Breuer, Senior Mission Chief for Sri Lanka also said that the debt restructuring with China was concluded on a strictly confidential basis for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to conclude its first review of the USD 2.9 billion bailout. China holds 52 per cent of Sri Lanka's total debt. The Chinese agreement in principle was very good news in Sri Lanka's debt restructuring talks. We have seen a summary of the key financial terms of the agreement shared by authorities on a strictly confidential basis," Breuer told reporters on Tuesday. The IMF late Tuesday concluded the review and approved the release of the second tranche worth USD 337 million to the island nation, bringing the value of disbursements to USD 670 .
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The second tranche of the USD 2.9 billion IMF bailout for cash-strapped Sri Lanka would be finalised within the next month, central bank governor Nandalal Weerasinghe said on Friday. The government is expecting around USD 330 million as the second tranche of the USD 2.9 billion 4-year bailout, following the first one that was extended in March under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) to support Sri Lanka's economic policies and reforms. Sri Lanka was hit by its worst economic crisis in history when the country's foreign exchange reserves fell to a critical low and the public came out on the streets to protest the shortage of fuel, fertilisers and essential commodities. We are making good progress with the first review. We will get the programme approved. What is required for that (is) assurances from bilateral creditors. The official creditor committee would be forthcoming, Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) Weerasinghe told reporters. With that, there will be additiona
The IMF has revised down Pakistan's foreign loan requirements to USD 25 billion for the ongoing fiscal year -- reducing it by USD 3.4 billion in a big relief for its cash-starved economy, according to a media report on Saturday. The Washington-based global lender also lowered the economic growth projection to just 2 per cent, turning down the government's external as well as macroeconomic forecasts, The Express Tribune newspaper reported. The International Monetary Fund's delegation wrapped two-week-long talks with Pakistani officials on November 15 and announced that a staff-level agreement has been reached to enable it to release USD 700 million in the second tranche of an already agreed USD 3 billion loan. The report said that in comparison with July this year, the IMF lowered the foreign loan requirements for this fiscal year from USD 28.4 billion to USD 25 billion. In four months, the government has already borrowed USD 6 billion while it expects rollovers of USD 12.5 ...
Pakistan's caretaker Finance Minister Shamshad Akhtar has said Pakistan's economy continues to remain fragile despite improvements and the cash-strapped nation would have to go for more IMF loans for some time, a media report said on Friday. Akhtar also emphasised that Pakistan needs strong financial reforms to strengthen its economy, the Dawn newspaper quoted her as saying. "The next International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme is very necessary for some time as the economy has returned to stability that was still very fragile. Until we are able to increase exports and domestic resources, we will need another programme," Akhtar said. Her remarks came a day after the Pakistan government and the IMF concluded a review of the ongoing USD 3 billion stand-by agreement with a staff-level agreement, opening the way for Pakistan to get USD 700 million in the second tranche. She said there was no more refuge from undertaking long-standing reforms. The country will not survive without this.