News
Lanka fails to ‘meet’ 33% of IMF commitments due by end-February: Verité Research
Sri Lanka failed to meet 33% of the commitments due by end-February 2024 in its International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme, according to the February update of Verité Research’s ‘IMF Tracker’.
Many of these commitments that are classified as ‘not met’ on IMF Tracker were designed to improve governance, the Verité Research said.
“These include commitments related to publishing information (transparency), and those that require the passage of governance-improving legislation.
The IMF has recognised poor governance as being at the heart of Sri Lanka’s economic crisis, and Sri Lanka is the first Asian country to have had an IMF-led Governance Diagnostic Assessment.
The status of 36% of the commitments are classified as ‘unknown’, which means sufficient data was not made available to assess their progress. By end-February, 31% of the commitments were verifiably ‘met’,” the Verité Research further said.
The second round of IMF programme funding came in December 2023. Under the updated agreement, Sri Lanka was due to meet 45 commitments by end-February. The IMF Tracker dashboard classified 14 (31%) of these as ‘met’, 15 (33%) as ‘not met’, and 16 (36%) as ‘unknown’.
Of the 15 ‘not met’ commitments, six are on publishing information. Four are on actions relating to adopting new laws: (a) Obtaining parliamentary approval on Banking Act; (b) Introducing automatic indexation of excises to inflation; (c) Making legislative change to set up a debt management agency; (d) Presenting the public finance management law to parliament.
These four actions, which are aimed at addressing governance problems, have remained neglected despite being included in the IMF staff-level agreement in September 2022.
The Ministry of Industries and Entrepreneurship Development has recommended the establishment of Sri Lankan Standards, i.e. the import testing methodology for imported tires used for passenger cars and pneumatic tires for three-wheelers with the aim of ensuring a fair competitive environment for local
manufactures and ensuring consumer safety and security.
Taking into the said recommendations, “Import and Export (control regulations N0.08 of the 2026)” has been enacted to amend the existing regulations by means of the Extraordinary Gazette Notification No. 2508/27 dated 2026-10-01, prescribing Sri Lanka standard 1212 for the import of passenger types (HS Code 4011.10.90) and Sri Lanka standard 1347 for the import of
pneumatic tires for three – wheeled vehicles (HS Code 4011.90.10).
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the resolution furnished by the President in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development to submit the aforementioned regulations to Parliament for approval.
Approval of the Cabinet of Ministers was granted at their meeting held on 02.06.2025 to introduce a new act to promote and providing legal provisions for facilitating the Public Private Joint Enterprises within Sri Lanka as well as the establishment of the National Agency for Public Private Partnership Joint Enterprises.
Accordingly, the Legal Draftsman has formulated the relevant draft bill and the Attorney General has given his clearance to the said draft bill.
The Cabinet of Ministers approved the resolution furnished by the President in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to publish the said
draft bill in the government gazette notification and thereby submit it to the Parliament for its concurrence.
Regulation, development and control of indigenous medical sector in Sri Lanka comprised of Ayurvedha, Sidhdha, Unani, Local Therapies are carried out under the provisions of Ayurvedha Act No. 31 of 1961.
Although amendments were made to the act from time to time as per the requirements, the necessity of further amending the Ayurvedha Act has been identified to enable efficiently maintaining all activities of local medical field productively, further formalizing the regulation of the sector, taking actions to providing licenses applicable to export of local medicines, and achieving the progress and sustainable development goals in the local medical sector.
Based on the said factors, the Cabinet of Ministers granted approval to the resolution furnished by the Minister of Health and Mass Media to direct the Legal Draftsman to formulate a draft bill to amend the Ayurvedha Act No. 31 of 1961.
Import and Export (Control) Regulations No. 08 of 2026
Draft Bill of the Public Private Partnership Enterprises Act to be gazzetted
Amendment of the Ayurvedha Act No. 31 of 1961
Cabinet nod to amend the Sri Lanka Development Administration Institute Act No. 9 of 1982
Establishment of the National Higher Performance Centre
State patronage for the cremation ceremony of the late deputy prelate (Anu Nayaka Thero) of the Sri Laka Ramangya Maha Nikaya, Gatambe Rajopawanramadhipatha, Siri Chandawimala Wanshalankara, Chandrakeerthi Sri Amarawansha, Sadhdharmawageeshwara, Shasanashobhanna Most Venerable Keppetiyagoda Siriwimalabhidhana Thero
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