Three-day parliamentary debate on IMF program next week

The political party leaders have scheduled a three-day parliamentary debate for the recently-approved International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan agreement.

Accordingly, the IMF-supported Extended Fund Facility (EFF) will be taken up for debate in the parliament from 26-28 April.
  The decision was reached at the political party leaders’ meeting convened at the parliament complex this morning (April 20).

The meeting was chaired by Deputy Speaker of Parliament Ajith Rajapakse.

Meanwhile, the parliamentary sessions after the Sinhala & Tamil New Year festival will take place from April 25-28.

On March 20, 2023, the Executive Board of the IMF green-lighted a 48-month extended arrangement under the EFF program of SDR 2.286 billion (approximately USD 3 billion) for Sri Lanka.

The EFF program will allow Sri Lanka to access financing of up to USD 7 billion from the IMF, international financial institutions and multilateral organizations.

The program is expected to provide much-needed policy space to drive the economy out of the unprecedented challenges and instill confidence amongst all the stakeholders.

After receiving the IMF’s board approval, Sri Lanka immediately received an initial disbursement of USD 333 million (amounting to SDR 254 million) from the EFF arrangement, which is expected to catalyze new external financing including from the ADB and the World Bank.

Sri Lanka reached a Staff-Level Agreement with the IMF on a four-year program supported by the Extended Fund Facility on September 01, 2022.