A cabinet spokesman said that the contents of Sri Lanka’s agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be shown to the cabinet of ministers, the leader of the opposition, and the heads of parliamentary committees in due time.
On Tuesday, September 13, Minister Ramesh Pathirana told reporters that the government does not want to hide the agreement from anyone, as some members of the opposition have said.
“All the facts and rules will be given to the cabinet, the leader of the opposition, and the chairs of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE), Committee on Public Accounts (COPA), and Committee on Public Finance. “There is no secret,” Pathirana said.
Sri Lanka is going through a balance of payments crisis that has never happened before. On August 31, IMF staff agreed to a four-year, $2.9 billion extended fund facility (EFF) for Sri Lanka, if the IMF board agrees.
Several opposition lawmakers, including the leader of the opposition, Harsha de Silva of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) party, have said that the IMF deal should be brought up in parliament.