Fin Min, delegation meet with top US State Dept, IMF officials

Minister of Finance Ali Sabry and his delegation held crucial meetings with the top officials of the U.S. Department of State and USAID as well as top officials of the International Monetary Fund including its Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva in Washington, DC Wednesday.

A meeting was convened for high level engagement with the Minister of Finance M.U.M. Ali Sabry P.C. and the U.S. Department of State experts Donald Lu, Assistant Secretary – Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs and John McDaniel, Chief of the Economic Unit of the U.S. Department of State along with the experts of USAID Deputy Assistant Administrator Anjali Kaur, and Sanjay R. Iyer, the International Cooperation Specialist at the residence of the Ambassador of Sri Lanka for U.S. Mahinda Samarasinghe.

The successful discussion had focused on a variety of options and solutions for strategic economic development for short term and midterm challenges.

Finance Minister Sabry and the Governor of Central Bank of Sri Lanka Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe discussed overcoming the ongoing economic challenges in Sri Lanka with the U.S. officials.

The Finance Minister has received the assurance of the valuable support from the esteemed institutions to strengthen the economy of Sri Lanka, the Finance Ministry said.

Assistant Secretary Lu said U.S. welcomes Sri Lanka and IMF working towards a sustainable solution to relieve the economic hardships for its people.

The Assistant Secretary has said the United States is committed to supporting Sri Lanka’s efforts to stabilize its economy and set the country on a path toward a sustainable and prosperous future for all Sri Lankans.

The Minister of Finance Ali Sabry and Governor of Central Bank Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe also held a meeting with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva at the IMF on the 20th of April 2022.

The key highlights of the discussion had premised upon the Policy actions required to be taken to address the economic challenges of Sri Lanka.

The Managing Director has assured her sincere commitment to work together towards mapping a pathway to assist the economic recovery for Sri Lanka.

“Thank you Minister Ali Sabry and Governor Weerasinghe for being with us in person at the Spring IMF Meetings during these difficult times. We discussed policy actions to address economic challenges and undertook to work together towards mapping a pathway to Sri Lanka’s recovery,” Georgieva tweeted after the meeting.

Minister Sabry and Central Bank Governor Dr. Weerasinghe also met with the IMF First Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath on Wednesday at the IMF headquarters in Washington, DC.

The discussion between the distinguished delegates focused on the challenges faced by Sri Lanka and the mechanisms and measures required to address the economic challenges expeditiously, the Finance Ministry said.