The staff level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to being entitled to a loan assistance of US $ 2.9 billion should be instrumental in recovering Sri Lanka from the economic crisis befallen it and debt restructuring, emphasised Dhananath Fernando, calling in a briefing today (01).
The economic guru pointed out that with this staff level-agreement, it may be possible to obtain assistance from other countries and international bodies, advising that this should be the last time in which the island nation should seek support from the IMF given the record of six times being successful in seeking support out of sixteen attempts.
Fernando noted that the credit facility yet to be received is not enough to import fuel for a year, but the country can obtain what he described as a ‘good character certificate’ through the staff-level agreement with the IMF. Accordingly, Sri Lanka should take this opportunity to rebuild the country’s economy in the event that the IMF has paid attention on about seven aspects of granting assistance, he added.
These aspects include, autonomy of the Central Bank, protection of the poor, building foreign reserves, stabilisation of the financial and banking system, imposing regulations to stop corruption, and etc.
MIAP
