The economy of the country of 22 million is expected to shrink 2% this year before returning to growth next year, the government estimates, following last year’s record contraction of 7.8% after foreign exchange reserves hit record lows.
The International Monetary Fund approved a bailout of nearly $3 billion in March, which Sri Lanka expects will bring additional funding of up to $4 billion from the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and other multilateral agencies.
Of the proposed World Bank funding, $500 million will be for budgetary support and is likely to come in two tranches of $250 million each, one of the sources, from the World Bank, said.