Tag : Economic

    Lanka Crisis: Gotabaya Forms Panel To Manage Finances

    Sri Lanka
    Sunil Aswal
    April8/ 2022

    Colombo: The Sri Lankan government has appointed an advisory committee comprising eminent economic and fiscal experts to provide guidance on addressing the current debt crisis and engaging with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other lenders as the country struggles to combat the unprecedented shortage of foreign reserves. The Presidential Advisory Group on Multilateral Engagement and Debt Sustainability includes Indrajit Coomaraswamy, former governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and former director of the Economic Affairs Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat, according to a statement issued by the President Media Division on Wednesday. The other members are Shanta Devarajan, Professor of the Practice of Development, Georgetown University and former chief economist of World Bank; and Sharmini Coorey, former director of the Institute of Capacity Development of the IMF Institute, and former deputy director of the Africa Department, IMF. 'Among the responsibilities that the Presidential Advisory Group will undertake are to engage in discussions with relevant Sri Lankan institutions and officials engaging with the IMF, and to provide guidance that will address the present debt crisis and lead towards sustainable and inclusive recovery for Sri Lanka,' the statement said. Rajapaksa is yet to appoint a new minister of finance. The country's Finance Minister Ali Sabry on Tuesday resigned, a day after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed him after sacking his brother Basil Rajapaksa amidst the island nation's worst economic crisis. Basil Rajapaksa was fired as he was planning to visit Washington to hold negotiations with the IMF. A government parliamentary group met with Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on Wednesday to di ...

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