• IMF Board approval for 2nd review in June-July

There will be no further tax increases for the year, and the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) second review will focus on monitoring whether Sri Lanka has met programme targets sufficiently, The Sunday Morning learns. 

“We don’t have any new targets to meet for the second review. The IMF will be observing how we are meeting the programme’s targets,” a Treasury official told The Sunday Morning. 

The official also said that no further tax increases would occur this year as all necessary measures had already been adopted. 

“IMF Board approval is expected in June-July.”

Sri Lanka commenced the IMF’s second review on Thursday (7), State Finance Minister Shehan Semasinghe said via X.

“We expect to conclude a successful review and reach the Staff-Level Agreement, which will pave the way for accessing the third tranche. This will accelerate our growth trajectory, fostering increased confidence in the economy.”

A statement by the President’s Media Division (PMD) on Thursday noted IMF Senior Mission Chief for Sri Lanka Peter Breuer’s remarks on the start of the second review as follows: “The IMF programme in Sri Lanka is showing signs of working and translating into real outcomes.” 

In 2023, the IMF approved the support of about $ 3 billion under its Extended Fund Facility (EFF). Accordingly, following its first review, the IMF released $ 337 million while terming Sri Lanka’s performance as “satisfactory”. This brought the total funding released to about $ 670 million. 

Following the first review, the IMF said that it was important for Sri Lanka to swiftly complete the signing of the agreements-in-principle it had reached with the Official Creditor Committee (OCC) and the Export-Import Bank of China.