IMF team to visit Sri Lanka February 15

Representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will visit Sri Lanka in next week to discuss the granting of 1.5 billion US dollar fund facility that was postponed due to the political crisis on October 26.

Dr R. H. S. Samaratunga, the secretary to the Ministry of Finance and Mass Media, has said that the IMF team will arrive on February 15^th, reports Colombo Page.

The International Monetary Fund had approved the three-year extended arrangement on June 3, 2016, in the amount of about 1.5 billion US dollar in six installments.

According to Dr. Samaratunga, four installments of the loan have been disbursed in the amount of $759.9 million.

The IMF put on hold the programme discussions on the 5th review of the Extended Fund Facility when Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena precipitated an unprecedented political crisis on October 26 ousting the incumbent Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

After completion of the fifth review the country is expected to receive a fifth tranche of about $250 million. The total loan was expected to have been disbursed with a sixth tranche by mid-2019.