SL expects to receive IMF board approval for bailout package by March: Wickremesinghe

Colombo, Feb 15 (IANS) Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Wednesday said he is hopeful that the country will receive the International Monetary Fund (IMF) board approval for a 2.9 billion US dollar bailout package by March.

Addressing an event organised by a private university in Colombo, the president said the Sri Lankan economy is now stabilising and it will be able to begin the debt restructuring process soon, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Wickremesinghe added that the country needs to have political stability to carry out the debt restructuring process.

He said that Sri Lanka reached a preliminary agreement with the IMF to receive an extended fund facility (EFF) program in 2022.

Sri Lanka suspended external debt repayment in April 2022 and entered negotiations with the IMF for a bailout package.

–IANS

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