By: Staff Writer
Colombo (LNW): The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says despite early signs of stabilization, a full recovery is not yet assured.
Daniel Leigh, a senior official in the International Monetary Fund’s research department said that the people of Sri Lanka have shown remarkable resilience.
“In the face of enormous challenges, Sri Lanka has made commendable progress in implementing difficult but much‑needed reforms.
And these reforms are already bearing fruit, as the economy is showing tentative signs of stabilization.
Inflation is down from a peak of about 70 percent a year ago, in September 2022, down to below 2 percent in September 2023. Gross international reserves have increased. And shortages of essentials have eased,” he said.
Daniel Leigh also said that despite early signs of the stabilization, a full recovery is not yet assured
Meanwhile Finance State Minister Shehan Semasinghe, who is in Morocco to attend the IMF-World Bank 2023 Annual Meetings, has held bilateral talks with senior officials of several global organizations.
In a meeting with Patricia Scotland, the Secretary General of the Commonwealth Secretariat, Semasinghe discussed matters of mutual interest including frameworks for debt management, anti-corruption and government performance management.
The state minister has also had a productive dialogue with Martin Raiser, the World Bank’s Vice President for the South Asia Region.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Semasinghe said the meeting focused on the World Bank-supported reforms carried out by Sri Lanka.
Raiser has expressed the World Bank’s fullest commitment to assisting Sri Lanka. The two sides have also discussed the enhancement of support in modernizing agricultural and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) sectors, among other areas of ongoing collaboration.
On Monday (Oct. 09), Semasinghe engaged in a discussion with World Bank’s Executive Director, Parameswaran Iyer about the World Bank-supported programs for Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lankan side has expressed its gratitude for the support provided by the World Bank to the economic stability and the success of the island’s reform efforts.
Semasinghe also met with the IMD’s Executive Director, K. Subramaniam to discuss the progress of the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF) for Sri Lanka and the current economic conditions including the challenges and opportunities faced by the island’s economy.
The annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Word Bank are taking place from October 09-15 in Marrakech, Morocco, where a recent nearby earthquake in September killed more than 2,900 people.
The Boards of Governors of the IMF and World Bank Group (WBG) normally meet once a year to discuss the work of their respective institutions.
