President tables agreement with IMF

President Ranil Wickremesinghe tabled the IMF agreement in Parliament yesterday.

He said in terms of the Foreign Loans Act, the Finance Ministry Secretary had been granted special permission to sign necessary agreements with regard to the IMF loan.

President Wickremesinghe said he was seeking parliamentary approval for a reform programme to begin the second round of debt talks with bilateral and private creditors.

“I am asking the House to give approval to the IMF programme. If approval is not given I cannot talk with the creditors in the second round,” the President said.

The approval had to be granted latest by the third week of April, he said.