On 30th June 2022, an IMF mission team arrived in Colombo to assist the country with its dire financial situation; however, after 10 days, the IMF team left Sri Lanka, still unable to reach an agreement.
Source: bbc.co.uk
The latest new development regarding the situation in Sri Lanka is nothing but bad news yet again. After months of economic struggles, power cuts, running low on basic necessities leading to heavy protests and having the crisis disrupt the lives of the 22 million citizens of Sri Lanka, the President of the country fled and finally resigned and a new President has now been sworn-in.
However, this has not led to much of a positive impact and the anti-government protests continued in the country. It did not take long before a state of emergency was announced, allowing the army and police to raid protests and giving them the power to question, detain and arrest any citizen.
Amidst all the disagreement and protests, there was another issue that was brewing. On the 30th of June 2022, a mission team from International Monetary Fund (IMF) arrived in Colombo to host discussions regarding an Extended Fund Facility (EFF) in order to assist the country with the dire financial situation they are in.
However, after 10 days, the IMF team departed from Sri Lanka, unable to reach a conclusion. While IMF has stated that the discussions will continue virtually, this delay is yet another disappointment to people who are suffering as the country has imposed restrictions on supplies making life in Sri Lanka a struggle for the general public.
“Sri Lanka is going through a severe economic crisis. The economy is expected to contract significantly in 2022, while inflation is high and rising. The critically low level of foreign reserves has hampered the import of essential goods. During the in-person visit, the team witnessed some of the hardships currently faced by the Sri Lankan people, especially the poor and vulnerable who are affected disproportionately by the crisis. We reaffirm our commitment to support Sri Lanka at this difficult time in line with the IMF’s policies”
According to the Associated Press, the newly elected President, Ranil Wickremesinghe, stated that the deal with the IMF was postponed due to the ongoing protests.
With inflation rates exceeding 60 percent, the country is experiencing its worst economic crisis since its independence - the bailout talks with the IMF and securing dollars from friendly nations are the only rays of hope the country has - to get out of the current situation.
