The IMF Meter, the latest introduction by Verity Research, shows that 25% of the commitments contained in the plan that Sri Lanka has submitted to the International Monetary Fund have been completed by the end of March 2023, but one major commitment has failed to be completed.
Some 25% of the completed commitments have been completed prior to the approval of the International Monetary Fund’s Board of Directors to obtain an Extended Funding Facility (EFF).
These commitments fall under the category of ‘pre-measures’ that must be met to qualify for an extended funding facility.
Commitment failed to complete –
Sri Lanka has failed to establish a fully functional online platform for transparency by March 2023 – this is a preliminary agreement.
- Disclosure of information relating to all important public procurement contracts
- Publication of a list of all companies entitled to tax concessions through the Investment Promotion Board
- The objectives of establishing this platform were to publish a list of individuals and companies entitled to tax concessions on import of luxury vehicles.
This commitment was to be completed on March 1, 2023. However, it was not completed by the end of the month.
Lack of information is also a problem – 9% of commitments for which progress could be measured by the end of March had to be classified as “unknown” due to lack of information to measure progress.
Verity Research points out that there are 2 main advantages of questioning the progress of the IMF program.
The first is the benefits (not all) through the completion of commitments.
The second is that this questioning of progress will help to improve confidence in the governance of Sri Lanka, thereby helping the previous debt restructuring negotiations as well as speeding up our journey towards future economic development.
The progress of 100 identified commitments mentioned in the letter of intent (Letter of Intent) that Sri Lanka sent to the International Monetary Fund, which was approved by the fund on March 20, 2023, is being monitored through the IMF meter. The IMF meter will help the government, the people of the country as well as the International Monetary Fund to gain a better understanding of the progress and timeliness of these commitments.
You can now access the IMF meter through Manthri.lk, Sri Lanka’s only parliamentary watchdog website run by Verity Research. For more information, visit https://manthri.lk/si/imf_tracker.
