Tue Sep 24 03:49:59 UTC 2024: ## New Sri Lankan President to Renegotiate IMF Bailout
**COLOMBO, SRI LANKA** – Sri Lanka’s newly elected President, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, has announced his intention to renegotiate the country’s controversial $2.9 billion bailout agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). While the IMF has expressed willingness to work with the new administration, the move has sparked uncertainty within the nation’s financial markets.
Dissanayake, the first leftist president in Sri Lanka’s history, has promised to roll back some of the austerity measures implemented under the IMF program, including reducing income taxes and slashing sales taxes on food and medicine.
The IMF, however, has expressed confidence in the country’s economic recovery, noting that Sri Lanka has stabilized since defaulting on its debt in April 2022. The lender has confirmed it will discuss the timing of the third review of the bailout program with the new government “as soon as practicable.”
While Dissanayake’s party plans to amend the agreement, they have assured the public that they will not completely abandon the IMF program. Senior aide Bimal Ratnayake stated, “Our plan is to engage with the IMF and introduce certain amendments.”
The announcement has caused some volatility in Sri Lanka’s stock market, with the main All Share Price index initially dropping before closing the day up 1.19%.
Dissanayake’s election victory comes after a year of economic turmoil that saw widespread protests and the resignation of former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The new president faces the challenging task of balancing his promises of economic relief with the need to secure financial support from the IMF.
First Piper 