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| Wednesday, 15 January 2003 |
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PRGF report before IMF Executive Board in March - Jeremy Carter By Ravi Ladduwahetty A report on the proposed Poverty Reduction Growth Facility (PRGF) aimed at creating a framework of sustainable economic growth will be submitted to the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in mid March, IMF Senior Resident Representative in Sri Lanka Jeremy Carter told the Daily News yesterday. An IMF Review mission will be in Colombo on January 21 to conduct negotiations with the Government and the requisite papers will be forwarded by the review mission to the IMF Executive Board, Carter said. Carter was in agreement with the proposed PGRF and an anti-poverty strategy and said that the March deadline for the Executive Board was based on the outcome of the deliberations between the Government and the visiting IMF review team. The International Monetary Fund is not there to dictate or lay down terms to the Government of Sri Lanka, but to be a catalyst in its growth, he said and added that the IMF was fully supportive of the economic policies of the Government and especially in an endeavour such as this where there is poverty reduction through private sector-led economic growth. Asked to comment on whether the projected growth rate of 5.5 percent for 2003 was realistic, he replied in the affirmative, but said that it was largely dependant on external factors such as the demand for Sri Lanka's premium exports such as apparel, tea and other service and other portfolios in the service sector such as tourism and cargo handling. Carter said that Sri Lanka's economy, despite liberalised was small, which needed the collective support of the major markets such as the United States and the European Union. He said that the IMF was also happy at Sri Lanka's economic growth rate for 2002 which was projected at between 3 and 3.5 percent in the wake of the negative growth experienced in 2001 Poverty Reduction was also the focus of the Commonwealth Finance Ministers' Parley in London in September last year where the four-member Sri Lankan delegation led by Finance Minister K.N. Choksy made a positive contribution to forming an anti- poverty strategy. Commonwealth Finance Ministers presented financial and technical proposals to eradicate poverty in the region. |
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