Basil says advice sought from IMF to tackle economic troubles

By Yohan Perera 

The government has sought advice from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on how to tackle the prevailing economic crisis, but accepting of such advice will be done only after a thorough study, the Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa said.

Addressing a press conference this evening (2nd), Rajapaksa aid a team of IMF officials are expected to visit Sri Lanka shortly.

"We need to find out what is happening in institutions such as IMF. Don't you study what a bank is like before you seek a lone?" Rajapaksa quipped.

The Finance Ministry yesterday signed a US $ 500 million credit line agreement with the EXIM Bank of India for the purchase of petroleum products from that country.

The agreement was signed by Treasury Secretary, Sajith Attygalle from the Sri Lankan side and Chief General Manager of EXIM Bank Gaurav Bhandari from the Indian side.

Meanwhile, Rajapaksa said Sri Lanka needs another billion dollars to import food, medicines and other essentials. "We expect to secure this amount from India and China by next month," he said.

Queried as to when it will be possible to stablise Sri Lanka’s economy, he said the government hopes to bring the country’s external account into the positive territory by the end of the year.