July 21, Colombo (LNW): A team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will visit Sri Lanka next week to evaluate the nation’s economic development, State Minister of Finance Shehan Semasinghe announced.
Speaking to the media, the State Minister highlighted that after the second review to release the third instalment of the IMF bailout package, preparations must begin for the third review.
However, the upcoming discussions with the IMF delegation will focus on assessing the country’s economic progress and outlining future measures to strengthen the economy, rather than the third review, he noted.
The Minister further emphasised that Sri Lanka’s goal is to sustain the current stability and achieve an economic growth rate of 5.1 per cent in the first quarter throughout the year.
“While most forecasts predict a 2 per cent growth this year, we aim for it to be between 3 per cent and 3.5 per cent,” Semasinghe claimed.
He further expressed his hope that the election period will not impede economic growth, projecting an economic growth rate of 3.5 per cent for the year.
