IMF Chief lauds India for helping Sri Lanka during its worst economic crisis

Last updated on April 20th, 2022 at 03:40 am

On Monday, the Managing Director of IMF (International Monetary Fund) lauded India’s efforts towards helping Sri Lanka as the latter faces one of the worst economic crises in its history. The IMF chief, Kristalina Georgieva further assured the Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman that the IMF would continue to actively engage and support with the Asian island country.

Sri Lanka is struggling the worst economic crisis since its independence with extreme food and fuel shortages leading to mass protests against the government for its failure to control the sitation.

Georgieva made these remarks during the Spring Meetings of IMF-World Bank (WB) being held in Washington DC with Finance Minister Sitharaman. Sitharaman and Georgieva discussed during the meeting about various ongoing geopolitical events, raising concerns over their impact on the global economy along with future challenges of rising energy prices.

During the meeting, Georgieva also congratulated India for its having successfully conducted its vaccination program, the largest in the world, against the Covid-19. “She also appreciated India for extending COVID-19 relief support to other vulnerable countries,” according to the Ministry of Finance. The Ministry also said that the IMF Chief also noted India’s well structured and targeted policy has made the country’s economy “self resilient”.

Furthermore, the Finance Minister also stressed during her conversation with the IMF Chief that India is committed towards economic growth through Capital Expenditure. “The Union Minister underlined that India’s accommodative fiscal stance accompanied by major structural reforms and strong monetary policies have helped in India’s post-pandemic economic recovery,” the ministry said.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman reached Washington to attend Spring Meetings at the World Bank, as well as the meeting of G20 Finance Ministers and the Central Bank Governor Meeting (FMCBG). Apart from these, on Monday Sitharaman also had attended an event at the Atlantic Council – which is a think tank based in Washington DC. “The visit will also include several bilateral interactions, including with Indonesia, South Korea, Sri Lanka, and South Africa as well as a high-level meeting with World Bank President David Malpass,” a Ministry of Finance statement said.