The Government is expecting to fulfil all agreements reached with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) before September, State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya reveals.

Speaking to the media yesterday (11), Siyambalapitiya said that the Government would fulfil all agreements reached with the IMF before September.

“Certain parties are alleging that we have only fulfilled 25 out of 62 agreements reached with the IMF, but there is a committee appointed by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in this regard. The action plan is going ahead with the recommendations of that committee.”

Meanwhile, he noted that the Ministry of Finance, Economic Stabilisation, and National Policies had taken steps to ease import restrictions on 286 commodities with effect from 10 June. With the latest removal of import restrictions, import restrictions were currently in effect on only 928 commodities, of which 306 are vehicles, he noted. 

“The Government had to impose import restrictions on 747 commodities on 16 April 2022, on 747 commodities on 22 May 2022, and on 1,467 commodities on 24 August 2022 in view of the economic crisis. As the economy has seen some stability in the past few months, such restrictions were eased on several occasions, and we hope to ease the restrictions on the rest too,” added Siyambalapitiya.

The import of many commodities was restricted with effect from 23 August under the Imports and Exports Control Act through a Government notification issued by the Finance Ministry. 

The items included in the list ranged from chocolate and other food preparations containing cocoa, condensed milk, yoghourt, coconuts, coconut-based arrack, roses, perfumes, beauty or make-up preparations, deodorants, dental floss, and trunks, suitcases, briefcases, and various clothing items.

The Finance Ministry recently stated that a sum of $ 1,211 million could be saved within a period of three months following the imposition of import restrictions on 1,467 commodities with effect from 24 August 2022.