No request from Sri Lanka for IMF funding
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says Sri Lanka has not made any request for financial support.
IMF’s Mission Chief for Sri Lanka Masahiro Nozaki told Daily Mirror in an email that a staff team from the IMF is scheduled to visit Colombo from December 7–20.
Responding to a question posed on the visit, the IMF Mission Chief said that the delegation will be in Colombo to conduct 2021 Article IV consultations with Sri Lanka.
Under Article IV of the IMF’s Articles of Agreement, the IMF holds regular bilateral discussions with all member countries to review economic developments and policies; following approval by IMF Management the IMF’s Executive Board discusses a Staff Report based on these discussions.
“The IMF has not received a request for financial support from Sri Lanka recently, but the staff stands ready to discuss options if requested,” Masahiro Nozaki said.
United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickremesinghe was quoted as telling Parliament this week that Sri Lanka is bound to go for a dialogue with the IMF under section four of the UN Monetary and Financial Conference in December this year.
He had requested the Government to present the details of this dialogue to Parliament saying Parliament has the right to know details of the agreement to be reached.
(Courtesy Daily Mirror)