Minister of Finance and Media Mangala Samaraweera will leave for Washington tomorrow (11), to get the International Monetary Fund's External Fund Facility (EFF) back on track.
Samaraweera is scheduled to hold talks with the Managing Director and Chairwoman of the IMF Christine Lagarde.
The Finance Ministry said that he will also meet Mitsuhiro Furusawa, Deputy Managing Director of the IMF, Chanyong Rhee, Director for Asia Pacific Department and other senior officials.
Minister Samaraweera is expected to signal the Government's intention to continue with IMF reform programme.
A key objective will be to negotiate the trajectory of continued fiscal consolidation while accommodating policies to support growth and strengthen the social safety net.
The Finance Minister's delegation to IMF will include Central Bank Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy, Secretary to the Treasury Dr. R.H.S. Samaratunga and other key officials of the Central Bank and the Treasury.
Dr. Coomaraswamy pointed out last week that the Sri Lankan government has the option of extending the IMF program by a year, describing it as a positive option for Sri Lanka as it looks to fund nearly USD3 billion in debt repayments that are due in 2019.
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