This is a basic agreement , not even a staff agreement, a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank and an economic analyst, Dr. W.Wijewardena has stated to the media.
He has stated that Sri Lanka has reached a preliminary agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) only before going to a staff level agreement for the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and the Fast Track Financing Facility (RFI).
Reuters reported yesterday citing four sources that Sri Lanka and the International Monetary Fund have reached a preliminary agreement regarding an emergency loan, and a formal announcement in this regard will be issued today (1).
In response, Dr. Wijewardena said, “The Financial Fund has neither confirmed nor denied the Reuters report. We don’t know if it’s true or not. But the bottom line is that we need to have further consultations. This is not the final agreement.
Following the Reuters report, IMF Sri Lanka Senior Mission Chief Peter Breuer and IMF Mission Chief for Sri Lanka Masahiro Nozaki issued a statement saying the IMF Colombo Mission has extended its stay there by one day as negotiations are still ongoing with the authorities. They had announced that they had planned to issue a press release today after finishing the operation.
Dr. Wijewardene said a preliminary agreement is one that confirms that Sri Lanka will have further consultations with the IMF to reach a staff-level agreement.
He said that the IMF team’s stay in Sri Lanka was extended by another day due to the inability of the two parties to reach a final decision.