IMF’s bailout package: Sri Lanka’s new government says ‘committed’; hopes of renegotiating conditions

Sri Lankan government meets IMF to renegotiate $2.9 billion bailout package, aiming for economic stability and debt restructuring.

The new Sri Lankan government, during its first meeting with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said it is committed to the global lender’s $2.9 billion bailout package clinched by the previous Ranil Wickremesinghe regime and hoped to renegotiate certain conditions.

The meeting between the IMF team and the Sri Lankan government on Wednesday (October 2, 2024) came two weeks after President Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the National People’s Power (NPP) was elected two weeks ago.

The government team was represented by its economic council members headed by Prof. A.J. Fernando, who was named as President Dissanayake’s economic and finance advisor only two days ago.

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On September 23, Mr. Dissanayake, the leader of the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna party's broader front, the NPP, was sworn in as Sri Lanka's ninth President, amid hopes that he will bolster the country's economy and eliminate corruption.

“The primary objective of the visit was to initiate discussions on the progress of the IMF Programme and necessary steps towards the release of the fourth tranche of the $2.9 billion Extended Fund Facility,” a statement from the President’s Media Division (PMD) said about the meeting.

Prof. Fernando told reporters that the talks were useful in exchanging ideas and said the NPP government would stay committed to the IMF’s $2.9 billion four-year facility clinched by the Ranil Wickremesinghe administration in March 2023.