IMF staff to meet President Wickremesinghe today

The staff team of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will arrive in Sri Lanka today (May 11).

The IMF said this visit comes as part of the regular consultations between the global lender and the island nation, ahead of the first review mission later this year.

The delegates of the global lender will be in Sri Lanka until May 23.

Visiting as part of regular consultations ahead of the first review mission later this year, the IMF staff team will summon a press briefing on Monday evening (May 15) in Colombo, led by Krishna Srinivasan, the IMF’s Director of Asia and Pacific Department; Peter Breuer, the Asia and Pacific Department’s Senior Mission Chief for Sri Lanka; and Sarwat Jahan, the IMF Resident Representative in Sri Lanka.

The IMF staff team’s visit comes days after the first meeting of Sri Lanka’s official bilateral creditors committee, during which the island nation’s authorities formally presented a request for debt treatment. China, Saudi Arabia and Iran were in attendance as observers.

The committee, co-chaired by India, Japan and France, carries 17 members that comprise Paris Club creditors as well as other official bilateral creditors. 

Sri Lankan authorities are having close ties with its creditors at present to coordinate and fast forward towards the debt treatment that reinstates debt sustainability under the EFF program.