IMF and WB willing to further support SL development

Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake with IMF Managing Director Chirstine Lagarde during their meeting in Washington D.C. on the 

sidelines of the IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings recently.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank have assured Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister of their willingness to enhance economic support for the local developing export sector, enterprises, improving the business environment and promoting investment. 

During his recent visit to Washington the Finance Minister also had bilateral meetings with the Norwegian Finance Minister, Indian Finance Minister and also had discussions with senior officials of the IMF who showed interest in supporting Sri Lanka’s development initiatives under the political vision of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, the Ministry said in a statement. The Minister met a number of the world’s leading investors/ fund managers who showed interest in supporting Sri Lanka’s development initiatives under the new Government.

Minister Karunanayake attended the Intergovernmental Group of Twenty Four Countries (G-24) Ministers and Governors Meeting where he functioned as the Second vice Chair of the Group. The governing body of the G-24 meets twice a year, during the Spring and Annual meetings of the IMF and WB. Minister Karunanayake expressed the commitment and fullest cooperation of the Government of Sri Lanka for the initiatives taken by the G-24. 

Addressing the G-24 press conference, the Minister said that Sri Lanka will continue to engage with IMF and WB further for meaningful development cooperation to revive the country’s economy.

Semi Annual Meetings (Spring Meetings) of the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were held in the World Bank and IMF Headquarters in Washington DC from 13-17 April. 

Finance Ministers representing almost 189 member countries were represented at this meeting. The meeting  focused its attention on international economic and financial developments, the state of the global economy, geopolitical tensions, refugee crises and their impact on the global landscape, investing in quality infrastructure needed to promote private investment, enhancing pandemic prevention and preparedness, and building resilience to climate change related vulnerabilities.

A delegation led by Ravi Karunanayake participated at the meetings. The Finance Minister attended a number of discussions in addition to the meetings associated with the main conferences. Accordingly, Minister Karunanayake has had discussions with World Bank’s Vice President for South Asia Region Annette Dixon, Executive Director of World Bank for Sri Lankan constituency Subash Chandra Grag, Executive Director of IMF for Sri Lankan constituency Subir Gokarn, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs of the United States Department of State Nisha Biswal, as well as other senior officials, on financing future development programs in Sri Lanka.

A number of meetings were held with the Executive Directors of World Bank constituencies with major voting power with a view to convince them that Sri Lanka’s development path still needs concessional financing by the International Development Agency (IDA) of World Bank despite its graduation to upper middle income status. Meanwhile Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake briefed delegates on Sri Lanka’s future development program, at the plenary session of the annual meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.