Executive Committee meets today, another 700 million dollars from IMF.

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is scheduled to meet today (27) to make a final decision on approving the fifth and sixth reviews related to the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program implemented by the IMF for Sri Lanka. With the Executive Board's approval of these two reviews, which assess the progress of economic reforms in the country, Sri Lanka will receive another loan tranche of USD 700 million.

It is expected that this latest tranche of financial provisions, which is to be released, will be received by the country by the first half of next month. Including this USD 700 million, the total financial assistance provided by the International Monetary Fund to Sri Lanka to date will increase to USD 2.4 billion.

The International Monetary Fund reached a staff-level agreement on the fifth review of Sri Lanka's economic program in October last year. However, following that, in late November, due to the severe impact of Cyclone 'Ditwa' hitting the country, the IMF temporarily delayed submitting the fifth review for the Executive Board's approval.

At that time, a loan of USD 206 million was also provided under the IMF's Rapid Financing Instrument to provide urgent relief to Sri Lanka, which was affected by the cyclone disaster. Subsequently, the International Monetary Fund, focusing on the possibility of completing both the delayed fifth review and the sixth review at once, officially reached a staff-level agreement for both reviews on April 9th.