Transcript of a conference call on Sri Lanka with Brian Aitken, Mission Chief for Sri Lanka of the IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department

Ms. KAMATA: Good morning, everybody. I am Yoshiko Kamata of IMF Media Relations. Thank you very much for joining this morning's conference call on Sri Lanka. As you know, we regularly host a press conference call like this following the Executive Board's approval of an IMF program. Here with me is Mr. Brian Aitken, Mission Chief for Sri Lanka, and he will be happy to take your questions.

MR. AITKEN: As you all know, the Executive Board on Friday approved the 20-month standby arrangement for Sri Lanka. The amount was 1.65 billion SDRs which comes to about $2.6 billion. The first tranche of that loan of about $322 million was made available Friday following Board approval.

So I am happy to answer your questions. I think we have about 30 minutes? Okay, so I welcome your questions. Thank you. Read more ...