WB/ IMF assure unconditional support to Sri Lanka: Ravi K

12 October 2015 04:17 am - 0 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

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Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayke with Commonwealth Secretary General, Kamalesh Sharma

At the annual meeting of the World Bank (WB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Lima, Peru, their heads have assured fullest support to bring about genuine changes in the sphere of socioeconomic development in the country, concurrent to the changes in the political arena of Sri Lanka.

Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake is leading the Sri Lanka’s delegation for the meeting. The sessions which commenced on the 09th were scheduled to end yesterday. (11th)

In the sidelines of the meeting, the Finance Minister attended a number of discussions in addition to the main conference. He had discussions with World Bank’s Senior Vice President (Operations), Kyle Peters and World Bank Vice President for South Asia Region Annette Dixon on financing future development programmes of for Sri Lanka.

Minister Karunanayake attended Group of 24 (G-24) Ministers and Governors Meeting on October 08 and was elected as the Vice Chair of the Group. The governing body of the G24 - Intergovernmental Group of Twenty-Four countries on International Monetary Affairs and Development meets twice a year, preceding the spring and Annual meetings of the International Monetary and Financial Committee and the Joint Development Committee of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. At this occasion, Minister Karunanayake assured that Sri Lanka will also contribute for strengthening of G 24.
On the sidelines of the Annual meeting in Lima, Minister had a bilateral meeting with South African Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene, Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitly and will have discussions with senior US Treasury Officials and ADB officials Senior IMF officials.

Minister also had a meeting with the Commonwealth Secretary General, Kamalesh Sharma on matters of mutual interest.

The Minister met a number of world’s leading investors/fund managers who showed interest in supporting Sri Lanka’s development initiatives under the new government.

Speaking during the meeting, the Minister said that the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund had already agreed to extend unconditional support for Sri Lanka’s development initiatives.

“This is a golden opportunity for Sri Lanka. They have been closely watching the success achieved in the political front. Hence the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund stand ready to extend finance assistance to revive the country’s economy.

We are ready with our set of proposals. I have no doubt that they will respond positively to them. I must reiterate that we are not subject to any conditions imposed by the World Bank and the IMF. In fact, they support us on our conditions and no on theirs.

“The financial support will mainly be channeled for education, health infrastructure, women empowerment and ensuring better prospects for young men and women.

In addition, the two lending agencies too have assured support for enhancing economic productivity, developing export sector, developing enterprises, improving business environment and promoting investment.

It is difficult to predict exactly how much we are getting. Because they have to study our programme first. In the past, we pledged support based on various conditions. But now they support us by looking at our programme”, the Minister noted.

The Sri Lankan delegation headed by the Minister Karunanayake consists of Treasury Secretary Dr. R H S Samaratunga, Central Bank Deputy Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe, K Mahinda Siriwardena, Director Economic Research of Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Ajith Abeysekera, Additional Director General of External Resources Department , and Bandula Somasiri, Minister, Commercial attached to the Embassy of Sri Lanka in USA.

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WB/ IMF assure unconditional support to Sri Lanka: Ravi K

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