Sri Lanka needs multilateral assistance program to overcome economic crisis: Global financial institutions

Sri Lanka needs a coordinated assistance program supported by the multilateral financial institutions to recover from the economic crisis the country is currently facing, according to the global financial institutions on Tuesday.Sri Lanka is going through its worst economic crisis since its independence in 1948, triggered by a severe paucity of foreign exchange reserves.

Sri Lanka needs a coordinated assistance program supported by the multilateral financial institutions to recover from the economic crisis the country is currently facing, according to the global financial institutions on Tuesday.

Sri Lanka is going through its worst economic crisis since its independence in 1948, triggered by a severe paucity of foreign exchange reserves. In mid-April, Sri Lanka declared its international debt default due to the forex crisis.

The representatives from the World Bank (WB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), who are here on a visit, have decided that a coordinated assistance program supported by multilateral financial institutions is vital for Sri Lanka's recovery from the crisis.

The decision was made during their meeting with President Ranil Wickremesinghe at his office, according to a release.

President Wickremesinghe presented Sri Lanka's development program associated with the economic recovery and growth along with the vision for long term development. He presented the program at the round table discussion in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Economic Stabilization and National Policies.

The round table discussion was held with Vice President of the World Bank Martin Raiser, Vice President of the Asian Development Bank Shixin Chen, IMF's Senior Mission Chief Peter Breuer and Dr. Urjit Patel of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank along with the senior officials of those institutions, who are currently in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka is currently negotiating a bailout with the IMF.

A staff level agreement reached in August led to a USD 2.9 billion assistance package over 4 years.

The release is currently on hold due to the need to restructure debt.

Sri Lanka is talking to creditors to meet the IMF condition for the facility. Sri Lanka, a country of 22 million people, plunged into financial and political turmoil earlier this year as it faced a shortage of foreign currencies.

Due to this, the island nation has been unable to afford key imports, including fuel, fertilisers and medicines, leading to serpentine queues.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)