A staff team of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will visit Sri Lanka from March 26 to April 09, IMF Communications Director Julie Kozack announced.
Addressing the IMF press briefing, Kozack said the visit will focus on discussing economic policies.
“The aim will be to complete a combined fifth and sixth review of the IMF-supported program while assessing the potential impact of the Middle East conflict on the economy,” she said.
Kozack further said that as part of the discussion, the team will be engaging with the authorities to better understand what the potential impact of the Middle East conflict could be on Sri Lanka’s economy.
“When the team returns, it will have an updated assessment of Sri Lanka’s economy and how the IMF can continue to support Sri Lanka.
The IMF Communications Director went on to note that the IMF is actively engaging with countries affected by the Middle East conflict, assessing global economic risks and standing ready to provide support.
“We are engaging very actively with our membership. We are talking to them about how we see, as I explained here, how we see some of the impacts on the, on the global economy. But also asking them, how can we best support them at this time, using the full range of tools available to us, including through our policy advice, capacity development and also financial support as needed.
We have engaged with finance ministers and central bank governors in many countries and regions. We’ve also engaged with regional institutions to discuss and share perspectives on the implications of the conflict and again, how the Fund can best provide support. The overall impact, of course, is going to depend very much on the duration and intensity of the conflict.
We will provide an updated assessment in our World Economic Outlook in April, which will be comprehensive for the individual country level and also for global and regional economies,” Kozack added. (Newswire)