Sri Lanka vs. past IMF program targets: Multiple failures than success

Sri Lanka is currently entering its 17th IMF program with the impending Board-Level Agreement. However, over the 54-year period from 1965 to 2019, Sri Lanka has been in an IMF program for 28 of those years. In other words, Sri Lanka has been in an IMF program for over 50% of the period, states publicfinance.lk.

Sri Lanka has missed the revenue target;  the primary balance and Budget balance target in 10 out of 12 years.

In a previous insight, publicfinance.lk highlighted that Sri Lanka has only completed nine out of the 16 programs it has entered into. The infographics below highlight that even during an IMF program, Sri Lanka does not have a clean track record of meeting the initial targets set by the IMF with revenue, primary balance and the budget balance.