On October 17, 2008, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded the Article IV consultation with Sri Lanka and commended Sri Lanka’s recent economic performance and endorsed Sri Lanka’s macroeconomic policies under the Ten-Year Development Plan. At the same time, they drew attention to some emerging risks arising from the recent financial crisis. The Key points of the Public Information Notice, which sets out the IMF Staff Assessment and the Executive Board Assessment, are summarized below.

You can now access Tamil language website of the Ministry of Defence.

The statement by Amnesty International (AI) issued on Wednesday, 19 November, entitled “Sri Lankan Government Must Act Now to Protect 300,000 Displaced” is unfortunately yet another attempt to distort the factual situation pertaining to the conditions in which civilians in the north of Sri Lanka find themselves at present. Regrettably, AI has failed to present an objective analysis of the challenges and successes of the Sri Lankan Government in addressing the needs of Sri Lankan persons affected by the conflict. The AI account is littered with misleading innuendo compounded by outright falsehood and, upon a holistic reading of their report, it becomes clear that the intent of the report is to present a skewed picture unfavourable to the lawfully elected and popularly mandated Government of Sri Lanka.