A World Bank delegation led by Country Manager for Sri Lanka Gevorg Sargsyan met with the Secretary to the President, Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake, at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo on Tuesday morning, with talks centred on reform and modernisation of state institutions that generate government revenue.
Special attention was given to programmes aimed at safeguarding the integrity of public sector employees, the President’s Media Division said in a statement.
Discussions focused on the progress of reform and modernisation programmes for government revenue-generating institutions, including the provision of World Bank assistance for those initiatives. Officials drew further attention to the work of the Revenue Administration Reform and Modernisation Bureau, which was established under the Presidential Secretariat for the purpose of overhauling state institutions.
The two sides also explored future collaboration between the World Bank and the bureau, and the importance of World Bank engagement with the Internal Affairs Units that have been set up to safeguard the integrity of officials in state institutions.
Joining Sargsyan at the meeting were World Bank Senior Economists Richard Walker and Anthony Obeyesekere, and Governance Specialist Till Hartman.
The meeting comes as Sri Lanka is moving to deepen revenue-side reforms under its post-default fiscal framework. The World Bank’s Spring Meetings agenda signalled an expanded engagement on developing-economy resilience, while a parallel push to lift para-tariffs hindering manufacturing has been on the bilateral table for several months.
