Sri Lankan Finance Minister is an utter failure — IMF

Mar 5, 2017Mar 5, 2017

( March 5, 2017, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The International Monetary Fund ( IMF) says the contributions and interventions made by finance minister Ravi Karunanayake to overcome Sri Lanka’s economic crisis is wholly unsatisfactory. The minister is accused of a large scale of corruption and misusing the state resources since he assumed the office.

Excepting construction and tourism, all other sectors are experiencing a serious collapse, the fund’s South Asian representatives say in a special report.

The report coincides with IMF chief Christine Lagarde’s tour of the country starting tomorrow (06) to advise the government on how to come out of the economic crisis.

Reliable sources say she will hand over the report that covers the 2016 budget, state financial policy, tax regime, reduction in local and foreign borrowings, corruption etc. to the prime minister during her visit.

The IMF report is critical of the government’s failure in settling the loans and formulating a proper tax policy to improve state revenue.

Furthermore, it has questioned a lack of interest in curbing corruption in the state sector and the non-implementation of its proposals with regard to loss-making institutions.