Sri Lanka top developments: IMF to consider Colombo’s request for rapid aid; state-run oil company raises fuel price

Sri Lanka’s Finance Miner Ali Sabry met IMF Managing Director Kralina Georgieva in Washington on Tuesday and made a request for a Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) amidst the unprecedented economic crisis in the island nation. Meanwhile, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation’s (CPC) increased the price of 92 octane petrol to Rs 338 per litre, the second price hike within a month.
Here are some of the top developments:
🔴 A report News First Sri Lanka claims that the IMF will consider the special request made despite it being outside of the standard circumstances for the issuance of an RFI. The RFI, which is available to all member countries of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), provides rapid and low-access financial assance to member countries facing an urgent balance of payments (BoP) need, without the need to have a full-fledged programme in place. The IMF has also assured their fullest support to Sri Lanka and a positive response has also been received to expedite the process to strengthen the support extended towards Sri Lanka.
🔴 Sri Lanka’s state oil entity has raised its retail price from Monday midnight, a day after the Indian Oil Company’s local operation raised its prices, adding to the woes of the people who are impacted the island nation’s worst economic crisis. The state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation’s (CPC) new price of 92 octane petrol Rs 338 per litre is an increase of Rs 84 and now matches the per litre price of Lankan Indian oil company (LIOC). This was the second price hike CPC within a month whereas the LIOC’s yesterday hike was the fifth in six months. The CPC officials said the high global prices and the depreciation of the Sri Lankan rupee against the dollar after the government decision on March 7 to have a free float was the main cause.
🔴 Finance Miner Nirmala Sitharaman met her Sri Lankan counterpart Ali Sabry on the sidelines of the annual spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank and assured him that as a close friend and good neighbour, India will try to extend all possible cooperation and assance to the island nation amidst its worst economic crisis.
🔴 Sri Lanka’s embattled Prime Miner Mahinda Rajapaksa has proposed to amend the Constitution to meet the aspirations of the people incorporating the positive aspects of the executive, the legislature and the judiciary, according to media reports, as the country faced its worst economic crisis in decades which has led to anti-government protests. Rajapaksa said he pays special attention to the requests from various quarters to create a government that is accountable to the people.
🔴 Sri Lanka’s president acknowledged that he made makes that led to the country’s worst economic crisis in decades and pledged to correct them. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa made the admission while speaking to 17 new Cabinet miners he appointed Monday as he and his powerful family seek to resolve a political crisis resulting from the country’s dire economic state. Sri Lanka is on the brink of bankruptcy, with nearly USD 7 billion of its total USD 25 billion in foreign debt due for repayment this year.
With inputs from agencies