WEB DESK
International Monetary Fund’s team will visit Colombo next week to continue discussions with the Sri Lankan authorities on economic and financial reforms. The team will be in Colombo from 24th to the 31st of this month.
In a statement, IMF said, the objective is to make progress towards reaching an agreement on a prospective IMF Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement in the near term. It said Sri Lanka’s public debt is assessed as unsustainable.
It said approval by the IMF Executive Board of the EFF program would require adequate assurances by Sri Lanka’s creditors that debt sustainability will be restored. IMF team would also continue the engagement with other stakeholders during the visit. The team will be led by Mr. Peter Breuer and Mr. Masahiro Nozaki.
The island nation defaulted on its 51 billion dollar foreign debt in April this year.
Sri Lanka is continuously seeking help from the International Monetary Fund and other nations.
The country of 22 million people is facing its most severe financial crisis since independence in 1948, resulting from the combined impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic mismanagement.
The foreign debt crisis has led to a foreign exchange crisis resulting in a shortage of essential items like food, fuel, and medicine. Sri Lanka’s crisis has led to massive protests in the country in recent months.