Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa on Thursday called on the government to immediately open negotiations for a successor programme with the International Monetary Fund, warning that Sri Lanka will not meet the reserve accumulation targets set under the current arrangement.
“I am calling on the government today to begin negotiations for a successor IMF programme. Not to renegotiate the existing arrangement, which is proceeding. A successor programme, the arrangement that takes effect when this one ends,” Premadasa said in a statement.
Sri Lanka currently holds USD 7 billion in gross official reserves against an IMF target of USD 14.2 billion by March 2027. Closing that gap would require the country to add USD 600 million in reserves every month for the next twelve months — a pace Premadasa described as unrealistic given current trade and capital flow dynamics.
He cited a 14% depreciation of the rupee against the US dollar over the past year and pointed to petrol prices at Rs.410 per litre, approaching the June 2022 crisis peak after a midnight CPC revision in early May. The opposition leader also flagged risks to Sri Lanka’s USD 8.1 billion in annual remittances, given the heavy concentration of migrant workers in the Gulf and the ongoing Iran-US confrontation destabilising regional employment.
“Sri Lanka is not in a position of strength indefinitely. These are not distant risks,” Premadasa said.
He noted that Sri Lanka has previously entered 17 IMF programmes, “often only after reserves were depleted and the rupee collapsed, leaving the country with no choice but to accept harsh terms.” A successor programme negotiated now, from a position of relative strength with USD 7 billion in reserves, a functioning arrangement and demonstrated reform credibility, would secure better conditions, he argued.
The opposition leader’s intervention follows warnings from economist Ganeshan Wignaraja that Sri Lanka should plan for an 18th IMF programme as the Hormuz shock and Cyclone Ditwah compound recovery costs, and converges with CBSL Governor Weerasinghe’s regional rupee framing earlier this week.
Premadasa stressed that the call was not a retreat from fiscal discipline but a demand that the government plan for March 2027 and explain its contingency if the IMF target is missed.
