A staff team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) led by Manuela Goretti visited Colombo during February 14-28, 2019 to resume discussions on the fifth review under Sri Lanka’s economic reform program supported by a three-year Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement. At the end of the visit, Ms. Goretti made the following statement:
“The team welcomes the Sri Lankan authorities’ ongoing efforts to bring their economic reform program back on track following the political turmoil of late 2018. The team reached understandings at the staff level with the Sri Lankan authorities on the fifth review and their request to extend the EFF arrangement for an additional year with the remaining disbursements being evenly spread over this period to allow more time for the completion of the economic reform agenda. Subject to the planned submission to Parliament of the 2019 budget consistent with the EFF-supported program, the Board is expected to consider Sri Lanka’s request for completion of the fifth review in May 2019. The authorities are taking steps to complete all the pending actions and structural benchmarks for this review over the next few weeks.