Vehicles wait to get fuel in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on July 7, 2022. Sri Lanka has been facing one of its worst-ever economic crises since last year and also witnessed a shortage of essential supplies such as fuel and medicines during 2022. (Photo by Gayan Sameera/Xinhua)
COLOMBO, April 7 (Xinhua) -- Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka Nandalal Weerasinghe said the country could finalize negotiations with both bilateral and commercial creditors in advance of the first review of the IMF-assisted program, which is scheduled to take place in six months.
Addressing a meeting Wednesday night, Weerasinghe said after nearly a year of discussion, Sri Lankan authorities secured a lifeline of approximately 3 billion U.S. dollars from the International Monetary Fund on the condition that they will stay on course with reforms over the next four years.
Sri Lanka has received the first tranche of about 330 million dollars from the IMF, and this has not only eased liquidity conditions in the domestic foreign currency market, but also restored confidence among investors and other creditors, he said.
However, if Sri Lanka fails to remember the reason for obtaining the IMF Extended Fund Facility and reverts to the actions that lead to fiscal imbalances, it will not have another opportunity to correct its mistakes, he added.
Sri Lanka started negotiations with the international lender in 2022 after it was hit by a severe economic crisis.■
