Central Bank governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe plays down missing a December target for an International Monetary Fund (IMF) rescue package for Sri Lanka.
The country could still unlock the 2.9 billion US dollars over a four-year period as very good progress is being made in debt restructuring, particularly with the bilateral lenders, he said at a media briefing.
The CBSL governor made light of reports which claim that Sri Lanka could not activate the deal till next March if the December target is missed.
IMF board meetings take place at least three days a week with many items in their agenda and thus missing the December target is not a big deal, he said.
In a presentation made to creditors in September, the timelines drawn up showed that they expected to receive IMF board approval for the staff-level agreement reached in early September by mid-December or early January 2023 after obtaining financing assurances from the bilateral creditors by mid-November.
