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| Tuesday, 11 January 2005 |
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IMF initial assistance likely to top US$ 260m by Channa Kasturisinghe The visti of International Monetary Fund First Deputy Managing Director next week which follows tomorrow's meeting of Paris Club of Creditors is expected to further strengthen Sri Lanka's post-tsunami rebuilding process The First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Ann Krueger who will be here from January 19 to 20 is expected to hold crucial meetings with the Government on a possible debt relief of US$ 110 million and an emergency credit facility of about US$ 150 million as a measure to assist Sri Lanka in this crisis situation. The IMF Resident Representative Jeremy Carter told the Daily News that the main purpose of her visit will be to give much needed moral support to the people offering them the highest possible assistance. "We are looking at a sum of US$ 110 million by way of amending the repayment schedule and the emergency credit facility would be a standard amount which is usually 25 percent of the quota. We have provided similar assistance to countries in eight such occasions of unavoidable disasters which included Turkey, Malawi and Bangladesh. Sri Lanka deserves similar assistance following a catastrophe of this magnitude to help it with relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction," Carter said. Earlier the IMF Managing Director Rodrigo Rato at a meeting in Jakarta said that Sri Lanka's request to defer payments worth some $US100 million in loans to the IMF scheduled for this year will be positively responded by the IMF board. Ms. Krueger's visit will follow tomorrow's crucial meeting of the Paris Club of creditor nations where the participating countries are expected to agree on a moratorium on debt repayments for countries hit by the tsunami. Meanwhile, some beneficiary governments have found to be harsh that the Paris Club agreement is systematically tied to a reform program drafted by the International Monetary Fund. However, Carter said that the Paris Club meeting would be a different issue and should look at it in a different context. He said that Kruegers visit will follow the G-7 meeting which in early February which will further discuss the issue of assisting Tsunami hit countries. G-7, the richest seven countries in the world which determine the policies of IMF, the World Bank and International Markets, are reported to have reached a consensus on delaying re-payment of the Tsunami hit countries. |
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