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IMF program’s transparency hits all-time low in September, reveals verité research
Verité Research, the online platform behind the 'IMF Tracker,' has released its latest update on Sri Lanka's 17th program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), raising concerns about the nation's transparency and performance.
The report highlights that Sri Lanka, by the end of September 2023, achieved only 40 out of 71 trackable commitments, marking its lowest point in transparency and performance since the program's commencement in March.
The 'IMF Tracker' reveals that approximately 30% of commitments scheduled for completion by the end of September remained in an unknown status, with three out of the four commitments specifically related to enhancing governmental transparency going unfulfilled. This alarming revelation unveils a "twin deficit in transparency": (a) a growing lack of transparency in the program's progress and (b) a mounting failure to meet IMF commitments demanding increased government transparency.
The number of commitments with unknown statuses has surged to an all-time high of approximately 30%, up from around 20% in August. This growing lack of transparency poses a risk to public and institutional confidence, both in Sri Lanka's economic progress and in the effectiveness of the IMF program itself.
In the seven months following board-level agreement, most requirements mandating transparency have been unfulfilled. A current example is the commitment to "Report monthly cash flows from revenues, expenditures, and financing, by the third business day of the subsequent month, by the Department of State Accounts,". Another example is the creation of an online fiscal transparency platform.
This was due in March, but remains not met even at the end of September. The need for such a platform was underscored in both the governance diagnostics published for Sri Lanka – one by Sri Lanka’s Civil Society, and the other by the IMF. The only transparency commitment that was met by the government was the publication of the IMF governance diagnostic, which was also published by the IMF.
Transparency is foundational to public accountability in a democratic system. Yet, data from the IMF Tracker suggests that Sri Lanka has a twin deficit in transparency. The two governance diagnostics done indicate that Sri Lanka's economic issues cannot be resolved unless the government first addresses its accountability shortfalls. If these assessments are accurate, the twin transparency deficit could be a leading indicator that the anticipated economic recovery may not materialize as expected.
IMF Tracker is the first and only platform in Sri Lanka which tracks the 100 identified commitments recorded along with Sri Lanka’s letter of intent to the IMF on the programme approved on 20 March 2023. It is available for the public on the manthri.lk website at https://manthri.lk/en/imf_tracker
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