Coordinated assistance program vital for Sri Lanka’s recovery, int’l financial institutions say

Representatives of the World Bank (WB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) have decided that a coordinated assistance program supported by the multilateral financial institutions is vital for Sri Lanka to recover from the ongoing economic crisis.

They reached the agreement following a lengthy round table discussion held today (06 Dec) with President Ranil Wickremesinghe in Colombo, where the latter, in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Economic Stabilization and National Policies, presented Sri Lanka’s development program associated with the economic recovery and growth along with the vision for long term development.

Vice Presidents of WB and ADB, Martin Raiser and Shixin Chen, respectively, IMF’s Senior Mission Chief Peter Breuer and Dr. Urjit Patel of AIIB, along with the senior officials of those institutions were present at the round table discussion.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardene, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Sabri, Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera, Finance State Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, Investment Promotion State Minister Dilum Amunugama, Secretary to the President Saman Ekanayake, Senior Economic Adviser to the President R. H. S. Samarathunga, Advisor to the President Dinesh Weerakkody, Governor of the Central Bank Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe, former Central Bank Governor Dr Indrajith Coomaraswamy and many other senior officials were also present.