IMF to evaluate Sri Lanka’s fourth review on July 01 - Dr. Gopinath

The International Monetary Fund’s Executive Board is scheduled to evaluate Sri Lanka’s fourth review under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) on July 01, IMF’s First Deputy Managing Director Dr. Gita Gopinath said during an exclusive interview with Ada Derana.

She noted that Sri Lanka has made “lots of improvement” and “lots of progress” in restoring macroeconomic stability at the midpoint of its four-year IMF-supported program.

“At this point, again, lots of improvement that we have seen, lots of progress. We are on the path to the fourth review for Sri Lanka. July 1st is the date that we have for the board, who will evaluate this review and make the decision,” Dr. Gopinath said during Ada Derana’s current affairs program ‘@Hydepark’.

She commended Sri Lanka’s economic recovery, highlighting the drop in inflation from 70% to -0.7%, a two-thirds increase in tax revenue as a share of GDP, and a rise in foreign exchange reserves to $6.5 billion.

However, Dr. Gopinath cautioned that global uncertainty — including geopolitical tensions, trade disruptions, and energy market volatility — means there is “no room for policy error.” 

“Things are looking good. It’s important to stay the path. We should also recognise that the external environment has become much more challenging, especially with all the changes we are seeing in tariffs, with what’s happening in the Middle East more recently, and what may happen to energy prices globally. Lots of uncertainty, so really no room for policy error. It is important to be really focused on getting the reforms done.” 

She stressed the importance of maintaining fiscal discipline, advancing governance reforms, and building public trust to sustain recovery and avoid future crises.