Negotiations with IMF nearing conclusion: Sri Lanka's acting President
Jul 18, 2022
Colombo [Sri Lanka], July 18 : Sri Lanka's acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Monday said talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are about to conclude amid the ongoing economic crisis that has led to civil unrest in the island nation.
"Negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) nearing conclusion, and discussions for assistance with foreign countries also progressing," said the Sri Lankan Acting President's office.
"Sri Lankan Acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe called upon the political parties in the country to put aside their differences & not allow the country to suffer over differences over an individual. He urged to form an All-Party Govt," it added.
This comes after IMF Director Kristalina Georgieva on Saturday warned countries with high debt levels to take lessons from Sri Lanka and said that it is a warning sign for nations with limited policy space.
"Countries with high debt levels and limited policy space will face additional strains. Look no further than Sri Lanka as a warning sign," the IMF chief said.
"Emerging and developing countries have also been experiencing sustained capital outflows for four months in a row. They now suffer the risk of reversing three decades of catching up with advanced economies and instead falling further behind," she added.
Sri Lanka has been facing the worst economic crisis since independence in 1948, leading to an acute shortage of essential items like food, medicine, cooking gas and fuel across the island nation.
The country, with an acute foreign currency crisis that resulted in foreign debt default, had announced in April that it is suspending nearly USD 7 billion foreign debt repayment due for this year out of about USD 25 billion due through 2026. Sri Lanka's total foreign debt is running into billions of dollars.
Earlier this month, Wickremesinghe said that the island country is participating in negotiations with the IMF as a bankrupt country. In his speech in Parliament regarding the economic recovery plan, he noted that a round of negotiations has been successfully conducted with the IMF.
"Our country has held talks with the IMF on many occasions before. But this time the situation is different from all those previous occasions," he said in Lankan Parliament this month.
"We are now participating in the negotiations as a bankrupt country. Therefore, we have to face a more difficult and complicated situation than previous negotiations," Wickremesinghe said.
Wickremesinghe further in the speech said that once a staff-level agreement is reached, it will be submitted to the IMF Board of Directors for approval.
