COLOMBO, Aug 31 (NNN-XINHUA) – Sri Lanka has made good progress in the negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), Nandalal Weerasinghe, said here, last night.
“I can announce that we have made good progress in the negotiations with the IMF. Hopefully, we will be able to reach the first milestone, a staff-level agreement with the IMF soon. Once we reach that agreement with the IMF, it means that we have a credible programme in our hands,” he said.
Weerasinghe said that the agreement will come with important policy reforms that are necessary to stabilise and revitalise the country’s economy.
He added that the interim budget, presented to parliament by President Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday, provided the basis for the recovery.
The governor also said that coming out of the crisis will be a painful process for the citizens of the country. However, he was optimistic about the outcome.
“A lot of businesspersons write to me and tell me that they find it hard to continue because of high interest rates and import restrictions. However, there have been improvements in the past few months. A few months ago, the country was at the verge of shutting down,” he said.– NNN-XINHUA
