Sri Lanka is facing a critical situation due to the uncertain political climate, IMF negotiations, foreign debt restructuring, and fuel crisis. Economic experts say that due to this, the next 02 weeks are extremely crucial for Sri Lanka.
In the meantime, the United States is warning that among the reasons for Sri Lanka’s bankruptcy are China’s unproductive projects and loan deals.
The negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are still dragging on without proper agreement, and in the face of rising interest rates, running small and medium-scale businesses has become a challenging situation.
It is in the background that the World Bank has emphasized that it will not plan to provide new financial facilities for Sri Lanka until an adequate macroeconomic policy framework is implemented.
Economic experts point out that it has become difficult to run businesses in this situation and there is a risk of thousands of employees losing their jobs.
No new financing-World Bank
The World Bank disclosed in a statement that until an adequate macroeconomic policy framework is in place, the World Bank does not plan to provide new financing to Sri Lanka.
The World Bank said it is deeply concerned about the dire economic situation and its impact on the people of Sri Lanka.
The World Bank emphasizes that this requires deep structural reforms that focus on economic stabilization.
The World Bank also noted that the World Bank is redeploying resources under existing loans to address acute shortages of essential items such as medicines, domestic gas, fertilisers, food for school children and cash transfers for poor and vulnerable households.
According to the World Bank, about 160 million US dollars of these funds have been given to Sri Lanka to meet emergency needs.
In addition, the World Bank noted that it will continue to support basic services such as the distribution of medicines and medical supplies, school meals and tuition fee waivers.
The World Bank noted that it is working closely with relevant institutions to establish robust controls and credible monitoring to ensure these resources reach the poorest and most vulnerable.
“Within the next 6 months, a big big problem”
Samagi Janabalawegaya Member of Parliament Dr Harsha de Silva said, “If we fail to carry out these economic reforms, within the next 06 months, we will have to face a big problem soon.”
