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SL to receive first tranche of new IMF facility soon

Published

3 years ago

2023/03/22

Under targeted reforms Sri Lanka will be first country in Asia to undergo governance diagnostic exercise.

Sri Lanka will receive the first tranche of the IMF Extended Fund Facility (EFF) within the next two days, IMF Senior Mission Chief for Sri Lanka,Peter Breuer told a press conference yesterday.

He said that Sri Lanka would immediately receive an initial disbursement of about 330 million dollars from the EFF arrangement, which is expected to catalyze new external financing including from the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank.

Given below is his statement in full: “The reform programme supported under the EFF arrangement is built on strong policy measures and prioritises: (i) an ambitious revenue-based fiscal consolidation, accompanied by stronger social safety nets, fiscal institutional reforms, and cost-recovery based energy pricing to ensure the state’s ability to support all its essential expenditures; (ii) restoration of public debt sustainability, including through a debt restructuring to ensure stable financing of the government’s operations; (iii) a multi-pronged strategy to restore price stability and rebuild reserves under greater exchange rate flexibility in order to alleviate the burden of inflation, particularly on the poor, to foster an environment of investment and growth, and to ensure Sri Lanka’s ability to purchase essential goods from abroad; (iv) policies to safeguard financial sector stability to ensure that the financial sector can play its key role in supporting economic growth; and (v) structural reforms to address corruption vulnerabilities and enhance growth.

“Commendably, Sri Lanka has already started implementing these challenging policy actions. It is now essential to continue the reform momentum under strong ownership by the authorities and the Sri Lankan people more broadly.

“The economic impact of the reforms on the poor and vulnerable needs to be mitigated with appropriate measures. In this regard, we welcome the authorities’ firm commitment to strengthen social safety nets, including through a minimum spending floor, well-targeted spending through a new Social Registry, and establishment of objective eligibility criteria. Tax reforms under the programme are designed to be progressive, that is, ensuring greater contributions from high-income earners. Efforts to increase tax revenues should be pursued in a growth-friendly manner while protecting the poor and most vulnerable.

“Sri Lanka’s public debt, at 128 percent of GDP as of end-2022, is unsustainable. The country is in arrears to all its external creditors. IMF Board approval of assistance to Sri Lanka required assurances from 2 official bilateral creditors that they will provide debt relief and/or financing to restore debt sustainability consistent with the program, as well as an assessment that the authorities are making good faith efforts to reach a collaborative agreement with private creditors.1 These requirements were met ahead of the Board meeting.

“It is now important for the Sri Lankan authorities and creditors to closely coordinate and make swift progress towards a debt treatment that restores debt sustainability under the EFF-supported programme. The President’s recent open letter to official bilateral creditors includes commitments to transparency and comparability of treatment for all external creditors, which should help facilitate this process. IMF staff will continue to assist the authorities with creditor coordination in line with the IMF’s policies.

Finally, we emphasise the importance of anti-corruption and governance reforms as a central pillar of the EFF-supported programme —they are indispensable to ensure the hard-won gains from the reforms benefit the Sri Lankan people.

The authorities have committed to fundamentally improve public financial management and strengthen the anti-corruption legal framework in line with the United Nations Convention against Corruption. In addition, the IMF is conducting an in-depth governance diagnostic exercise, which will assess corruption and governance vulnerabilities in Sri Lanka and provide prioritized and sequenced recommendations. Sri Lanka will be the first country in Asia to undergo a governance diagnostic exercise by the IMF. We look forward to further engagement and collaboration with stakeholders and civil society organisations on this critical reform area.”

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Landslide Early Warnings issued to the Districts of Kurunegala and Ratnapura

Published

5 hours ago

2026/04/23

Priyan

The National Building Research Organisation (NBRO) has issued Landslide Early Warnings to the Districts of Kurunegala and Ratnapura effective from 16:00 hrs on 23.04.2026 To 16:00 hrs on 24.04.2026

Accordingly,

Level 1 landslide early warnings have been issued to the Divisional Secretaries Divisions and surrounding areas of Rideegama in the Kurunegala district and Kuruwita, Kalawana, Ratnapura, Nivithigala, Pelmadulla and Eheliyagoda in the Ratnapura district.

Latest News

Advisory for Severe Lightning issued for the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central, North-western, North-central, Southern, Uva provinces, and Ampara and Batticaloa districts

Published

7 hours ago

2026/04/23

Priyan

Advisory for Severe Lightning
Issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre of the Department of Meteorology
Issued at 12.00 noon 23 April 2026 valid for the period until 11.30 p.m. 23 April 2026

Thundershowers accompanied with severe lightning are likely to occur in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central, North-western, North-central, Southern, Uva provinces, and in Ampara and Batticaloa districts after 1.00 p.m.

There may be temporary localized strong winds during thundershowers. General public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damages caused by lightning activity.

ACTION REQUIRED:
The Department of Meteorology advises that people should:
• Seek shelter, preferably indoors and never under trees.
• Avoid open areas such as paddy fields, tea plantations and open water bodies during thunderstorms.
• Avoid using wired telephones and connected electric appliances during thunderstorms.
• Avoid using open vehicles, such as bicycles, tractors and boats etc.
• Beware of fallen trees and power lines.
• For emergency assistance contact the local disaster management authorities.

News

Compensation payments and reconstruction activities related to the Ditwah relief measures must be expedited with special attention at the district level – PM

Published

16 hours ago

2026/04/23

Priyan

Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya emphasized that compensation payments and reconstruction activities related to the Ditwah relief measures must be expedited with special attention at the district level. She further stated that all necessary allocations have already been made to Provincial Councils and instructed that the progress of disaster damage assessments and reconstruction efforts be closely monitored at the provincial level.

The Prime Minister made these remarks at a discussion held on Tuesday (21) at Temple Trees under her patronage, aimed at informing Chairpersons of District Coordination Committees and public representatives from disaster-affected districts, in order to accelerate the implementation of the “Rebuilding Sri Lanka” programme. The discussion focused on expediting disaster relief and compensation payments, as well as the swift restoration of infrastructure damaged by the disaster.

The Prime Minister emphasized that Rs. 500 billion has been allocated for damages caused by the Ditwah cyclone, and that all relevant development activities must be completed before the end of 2026. The Prime Minister also instructed officials to pay special attention to resolving issues at the local level that are causing delays in compensation payments.

Senior Additional Secretary to the President, G.M.R.D. Aponsu, stated that the estimated cost for reconstruction following the Ditwah cyclone is approximately USD 3.4 billion. Accordingly, funds have been allocated for compensation across several sectors including housing and social infrastructure, agriculture and livestock, fisheries, industry and livelihoods, and irrigation. He further noted that 99% of the Rs. 25,000 allowance has already been disbursed, while 95% of the Rs. 50,000 resettlement allowance has been paid. Compensation for fully and partially damaged houses is still ongoing, and 99% of temporary relief centres have been closed.

Additionally, attention was drawn to several other measures, including providing Rs. 25,000 to affected schoolchildren, paying Rs. 1 million as compensation for each deceased individual, compensation for children who lost one or both parents, support for persons with disabilities affected by the disaster, compensation for agricultural losses, and expediting resettlement of displaced families. Measures such as allocating land for new housing construction and accelerating the issuance of reports from the National Building Research Organization were also discussed.

Focus was also placed on the reconstruction of affected schools, hospitals, and daycare centres, improving the accuracy and speed of data collection at the local level, and accelerating infrastructure development.

The event was attended by Minister of Plantation and Community Infrastructure Samantha Vidyarathna, Minister of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government Dr. Chandana Abayarathna, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Livestock Namal Karunaratne, Deputy Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperatives R.M. Jayawardena, Deputy Minister of Education Dr. Madhura Senevirathna, Members of Parliament, Chairpersons of District Coordination Committees, Chief of Staff to the President and Commissioner General of Essential Services Prabath Chandrakeerthi, Additional Secretary to the President Jayantha Bandara; and officials of the Prime Minister’s Office.

[Prime Minister’s Media Division]