IMF negotiations with SL to begin soon

• Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa to attend IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington DC soon

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) confirmed that negotiations with Sri Lanka will begin in the days ahead.

“The Sri Lankan authorities have expressed interest in an IMF support and financial program. The answer is, yes. On the status of that discussion, we plan to initiate those program discussions with the Sri Lankan authorities including during the Finance Minister’s visit to Washington in April. 

“So, we plan to initiate those discussions pretty much in the coming days and that will include during the expected visit of the Finance Minister of Sri Lanka to Washington for our spring meetings in April,” IMF Spokesperson Gerry Rice said at a press briefing on Thursday.

On the economic outlook, he called on journalists to refer to the statement issued by IMF on 25 February.

“I am just looking at it. It’s fairly detailed including a table of all selected indicators. But, we will be updating the macroeconomic forecast and that will come in the wheel that I mentioned earlier in April. So, that’s about as much as I have on Sri Lanka,” Rice said.