Sri Lanka President announces postponement of reaching agreement with IMF
Posted on July 30th, 2022

Courtesy News.am

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Saturday that reaching an agreement with the International Monetary Fund to help bring the country out of the economic crisis has been pushed back to September due to unrest in recent weeks, AP reported.

The President of Sri Lanka said that negotiations with the IMF on a package of measures to rescue the economy did not move forward after these incidents.

Six-time prime minister and veteran politician Wickremesinghe is unpopular because he is backed by the majority of lawmakers backed by the powerful Rajapaksa family that has ruled Sri Lanka for most of the past two decades.

Wickremesinghe authorized the military to dismantle protest camps that had been set up near the president’s office for more than 100 days. Several people, including protest leaders, were arrested during the crackdown.

He was elected to complete the five-year term of his predecessor, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled to Singapore after protesters angered by economic hardships broke into his official residence and occupied several key government buildings.

Sri Lanka announced in April that it was suspending foreign loan repayments due to a severe foreign exchange shortage. The island nation’s external debt is $51 billion, of which $28 billion must be paid by 2027.

The currency crisis has led to shortages of many essential imports such as fuel, medicines and cooking gas.

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