IMF working with other lenders on Sri Lanka financing

ECONOMYNEXT – The International Monetary Fund is working with other multilateral lenders on financing programs for Sri Lanka, Deputy Director for Asia Pacific, Anne-Marie Guilde-Wolf said.

“I would say that we are working very closely with the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Asian Investment Bank, on programs for Sri Lanka,” she told reporters in Washington.

“Those programs would help for closing the financing gap. But I want to say also very importantly that the policies under the other multilateral lenders in their areas of expertise will be important to resolve Sri Lanka’s longer term growth problems.”

Multilateral lenders do not give new loans until Sri Lanka reaches debt sustainability based on IMF parameters.

Lenders are also looking for improvements in governance.

Sri Lanka in talks with the World Bank to get new funding as the IMF approves a 2.9 billion US dollar bailout requesting a downgrade of its credit status to qualify for International Development Association loans given to poorer countries without market access.

Sri Lanka defaulted in April 2022 but lost market access in practice earlier.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told parliament that he was hoping to get about 500 million US dollars from the Asian Development Bank. Numbers such as 2.0 billion dollars from multilaterals have been mentioned. (Colombo/Oct15/2022)