The country’s foreign reserve build up will begin soon after IMF starts disbursing the tranches of Extended Fund Facility in two weeks’ time, state minister Semasinghe said

Sri Lanka has now received financing assurances from all major bilateral creditors, IMF sources confirmed.

Ina brief statement IMF noted that this paves the way for consideration by the IMF’s Board on March 20 the approval of the Staff Level Agreement reached on September 1, 2022 for financing under an Extended Fund Facility.

Approval by the Board would also catalyse financing from other creditors, including the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, it added.

The government will expedite the implementation of economic reforms programme despite any obstacles as it will help Sri Lanka recover from its present crisis and set it on a path of strong and inclusive growth, finance ministry sources said.

It will implement an ambitious plan expeditiously to boost foreign reserves by at least $8.4 billion with IMF bailout loan of $ 2.9, World Bank immediate commitment of $1.5 billion, ADB aid of $1billion and $ 3 billion through the restructuring of selected State owned Enterprises (SOEs)

It is also expecting financial mobilisation of up to $5 billion from other multilateral financial agencies this year, finance ministry fiscal management data shows.

Sri Lanka normally earns $12 billion per annum from exports, $ 7 billion from foreign expatriate remittances and $ 4 billion from tourism totaling $23 billion and it has to spend $ 22 billion for imports.

The balance amount of $1 billion could be used for the partly servicing of multilateral debt which is around $ 5 billion per annum ,a senior finance ministry official said adding that they hope to manage the daily cash flow prudently following the speedy recovery of the economy.