Sri Lankan PM Dinesh Gunawardena hails IMF agreement; says committed to reforms
The Hindu
The Prime Minister of Sri Lanka said the agreement would pave the way for the island faced with its worst economic crisis to raise bilateral and multilateral funding from development partners.
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena on September 1 said the reaching of the staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a $2.9 billion bailout was an "important milestone" in the attempt to revive the country's economy which is facing a deep recession.
The IMF mission, following a week of talks with the Sri Lankan government, on Thursday announced that it has reached a staff-level agreement which would enable the crisis-hit country to avail $2.9 billion under the extended fund facility.
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Mr. Gunawardena, speaking in Parliament after the IMF announcement, said the agreement would pave the way for the island faced with its worst economic crisis to raise bilateral and multilateral funding from development partners.
“In future, we will have to make major sacrifices in order to find solutions to the factors that led to this economic debacle," Prime Minister Gunawardena said.
Mr. Gunawardena, however, said this was just the beginning and Sri Lanka had a long way to go before securing the facility.