Sri Lanka says ‘positive news’ coming from IMF on $2.9bn package

By William On Mar 7, 2023

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe is expected to address parliament on the progress of IMF negotiations.

Sri Lanka is about to receive “very positive news” from the International Monetary Fund on a $2.9 billion program for the country, a minister said, while a senior source said it has also received debt relief support from China .

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s office said he would make a special statement in parliament on Tuesday to “explain to the nation the current state of the economy and the progress of IMF negotiations”.

The island nation of 22 million is facing its worst economic crisis in more than 70 years.

“Sri Lanka is about to receive very positive news from the IMF,” Deputy Finance Minister Shehan Semasinghe told parliament.

“The IMF program is essential to us and Sri Lanka has been working very hard since last September to secure it.”

A senior Sri Lankan government official said the Export-Import Bank of China had written to the IMF in support of Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring program, which is critical to final approval of the loan.

“We expect the IMF to consider positively all previous actions by Sri Lanka and these financing guarantees and to approve the program soon,” said the source, who declined to be named as they were not authorized to speak to the media.