Abstract:
On 20 April 2001, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a US$253
million stand-by credit facility to Sri Lanka to stabilise the country’s macroeconomic
fundamentals. The government should be commended for requesting the IMF to make the
stand-by arrangement a public document, facilitating public scrutiny. However, there are
some critical discrepancies in the statistical data presented in the IMF Country Report No.
01/71 compared with annual reports of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. These anomalies are
highlighted with examples regarding defence expenditure, poverty reduction programmes,
and public service recruitment.
