In a high-stakes visit that could impact Sri Lanka’s economic trajectory, IMF Deputy Managing Director Geeta Gopinath and Asia Regional Director Krish Srinivasan are scheduled to arrive in Colombo next week. Their mission? To determine whether the Sri Lankan government is ready to follow through on its promise to raise electricity tariffs as part of its ongoing bailout agreement with the International Monetary Fund.
Gopinath, the second-highest-ranking official at the IMF, will lead a top-level delegation that will hold two critical rounds of discussions one with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and the other with President Ranil Wickremesinghe.
According to sources, the IMF team’s primary goal is to evaluate Sri Lanka’s commitment to implementing the electricity pricing formula a controversial but crucial reform that aims to align energy pricing with actual production costs. This step is considered essential for fiscal stability, and its progress (or lack thereof) will weigh heavily on the next IMF Executive Board review.
In addition to the tariff hike, the delegation will also assess broader compliance with prior staff-level agreements, including fiscal discipline, structural reforms, and governance improvements.
Sri Lanka, which is navigating a fragile recovery after its worst economic crisis in decades, is under intense pressure to meet IMF conditions in exchange for further disbursements from the $2.9 billion bailout program.
The timing of this visit suggests that electricity pricing and by extension, public willingness to endure rising costs has become a litmus test for the government’s credibility with the IMF.
