The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will meet today to take the decision to approve the Extended Credit Facility of US$ 2.9 billion requested by Sri Lanka.
It is also reported that Sri Lanka’s Senior Mission chief Peter Brewer and Sri Lanka’s Mission chief Masahiro Nozaki will brief on the outcome of the meeting tomorrow (March 21).
The institution had recently announced that the IMF Executive Board will meet today to take the final decision on the loan facility, after meeting all the pre-conditions, including getting certificates from the creditors.
If this credit facility is approved, the country is expected to receive the entire credit facility in installments within 4 years.
An initial installment of nearly $350 million will be received.
With this approval, more funding channels are expected to be opened through the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
The authorities of this country had said that through this, the country will get the opportunity to get rid of the dollar crisis.
This loan facility is similar to a guarantee issued by the International Monetary Fund in relation to the country in a situation where loan payments are suspended due to the acute dollar crisis in Sri Lanka.
If the respective credit facility is approved by the IMF, this will be Sri Lanka’s 17th program with the International Monetary Fund.
After this step, Sri Lanka has to bring its debt to a sustainable level within 10 years.
The expected IMF loan guarantee is therefore seen as an essential first step in the long road to economic recovery in this country.
