IMF rebuffs Ravi K’s claims

by Rukshana Rizwie

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday refuted claims by Minister of Finance Ravi Karunanayake about the Fund offering ‘unconditional support for Sri Lanka’s Development initiatives.’ The IMF said this in response to a question by the Sunday Observer.

The Minister recently noted that the IMF was ‘ready to extend financial assistance to revive the economy,’ and that ‘Sri Lanka was not subject to any conditions imposed by the IMF, but would support Sri Lanka on its conditions.” The IMF spokesperson refuted the claims saying the “IMF has not entered into negotiations on a program nor do we have any new missions to Colombo scheduled outside of technical assistance.”

The Spokesperson said, “If a formal request is received, the IMF would send a mission to assess macroeconomic vulnerabilities, the nature and size of balance of payments needs, and government’s policies to address these vulnerabilities.”

The Minister had also refuted projections made by the IMF that Sri Lanka’s forecast growth rate was 5 to 5.5 percent for 2016. Even Moody’s Investors Services Singapore stated that Sri Lanka has witnessed a moderate growth of 5.5 percent. “The IMF has not changed their growth projections, and real GDP growth for 2015 is still expected to be in the range of 5 to 5.5 percent.” The spokesperson stated.