ECONOMYNEXT – Some of the targets Sri Lanka had agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) including Stolen Asset Recovery legislation have been delayed in consensus with the global lender as they need more time for implementation, State Finance Minister Shehan Semasinghe said.
The IMF approved Sri Lanka’s second program review late on Wednesday, allowing the disbursement of $336 million third tranche, citing that Sri Lanka’s performance under program remaining strong.
The IMF said “all quantitative targets were met, except for the marginal shortfall of indicative target on social spending. Most structural benchmarks were either met or implemented with delay. Reforms and policy adjustment are bearing fruit”.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s government is compelled to pass some legislation in the parliament as fast as it can to stay in the programme timeline, government official say.
It has passed around 75 new laws including most significant legal reforms in the justice system of the country in the last 18 months.
The government also has enacted an Anti-Corruption Act aimed at curbing bribery, fraud, corruption, and embezzlement in both the public and private sectors, aligning with the United Nations anti-corruption charter, as agreed with the IMF.
However, the government has yet to pass Crime of Proceed Bill, Economic Transformation Bill, and Public Finance Management Bill, which are also crucial for the IMF-led reforms.
Minister Semasinghe acknowledged that there were some delays and the government had already negotiated with the IMF on the specific delays.
“There are certain times where we had agreed upon with the IMF and certain stakeholders on shifting implementation dates because there are practical difficulties,” Semasinghe told reporters at a media briefing in Colombo.
“There is a judicial process that the government should go through after tabling (bills) in the parliament. Anybody outside the system may not know about the negotiation that had taken place and what we had agreed,” he said.
“So we have not diverted from the programme. If the government has deliberately delayed from the certain reforms, it would have been indicated in its press release and the (IMF) board would not have approved (the second review).” (Colombo/June 13/2024)