Sept 14 (NIA) – Representatives from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), on Thursday held discussions with Sri Lanka’s Minister of Finance, Ravi Karunanayake for a mission review of a 1.5 billion US dollar loan approved for Sri Lanka under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF).
The facility has been allocated to support Sri Lanka’s economic reform agenda.
Jaewoo Lee, IMF Representative and the Country Representative for Sri Lanka and Maldives, Eteri Kyintradgze met Karunanayake in the capital and reviewed the progress of the reforms agenda of the government.
The Executive Board of IMF in June had approved a 36 month extended arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) with Sri Lanka for an amount equivalent to an estimated 1.5 billion dollars.
During discussions, Karunanayake explained the economic targets in detail set by the unity government.
Elaborating the government’s fiscal consolidation target, the Minister said that the government was very clear in gradually reducing the overall fiscal deficit to 3.5 percent of GDP by 2020.
“We had a budget deficit of 6.7 % of the GDP last year and this year’s target will be 5.4%. It will be further reduced to 4.7% in 2017,” asserted the Minister.
The IMF mission Representatives admired the progress made in the right direction under the reforms agenda. They also expressed hope that the unity government of Sri Lanka would be able to achieve desired economic progress in the near future as stimulated in their reforms agenda.
The first tranche of the IMF Loan was disbursed in June and the rest will be disbursed in five equal tranches and the next tranche is due in November, the Finance Ministry said.
