ECONOMYNEXT – An International Monetary Fund team will visit Sri Lanka next week, the agency said, while President Anura Dissanayake said he expected a budget to be presented and passed in parliament by February.
“An IMF team led by Peter Breuer, senior mission chief for Sri Lanka, is expected to visit Colombo next week to conduct the third review for Sri Lanka’s economic reform program supported by the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility,” a spokesperson said.
President Anura Dissanayake said at his last campaign rally that the mission would arrive soon after the election to conduct the third review of the program.
“We will finish the review by end January/early February,” he said. “Then we can achieve considerable stability in the economy.”
For an IMF program review to pass, a staff level agreement has to be crafted with fiscal and monetary targets for the next year. For that a budget in line with program parameters is required.
A budget is planned for February, President Dissanayake said. Until then a vote-on-account will be presented.
“Because we are setting up new ministries we cannot do a budget in a hurry,” President Dissanayake said.
“In December we will do a 4-month vote on account. But we do not want to wait for 4 months. By end February we hope to approve a budget. It will have benefits for the people.”
He said a 3,000 rupee allowance has already been given to pensioners.
“There are people who deserve Aswesuma but they have been missed,” he said. “We will review and give to those people as well. We will reduce the PAYE tax to a reasonable level. Then VAT on food taxes will be removed. We will give a payment for children to buy school items.”
A state worker salary hike will be made, he said.
Debt restructuring is expected to be completed by December and debt repayments will begin from 2028, he said.
“We have calculated how much we have to pay in 2028,” he said. “We have a strong belief that the NPP can build an economy that will be bigger than the debt repayment share.” (Colombo/Nov12/2024)