The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will focus on capital market development in Sri Lanka to complement International Monetary Fund support for fiscal consolidation and other reforms, a senior official said.
Wencai Zhang, Vice President (Operations 1) of the ADB, who is on a three-day visit to the island, said support from multilateral agencies would lay the basis for stronger, more inclusive, sustainable growth in the coming years.
“That’s why the ADB will support policy development and capital market reforms,” he told a news conference.
The IMF has pledged Sri Lanka US$1.5 billion to support fiscal consolidation and other reforms mean to increase revenue, reduce the budget deficit and build foreign exchange reserves.
The government has said IMF support will be a catalyst that generates support from other lending agencies like the World Bank and Japan International Co-operation Agency as well as attract foreign investment.
¬¬¬Sri Widowati, country director of ADB Sri Lanka, said capital market development was one of the areas where the government has asked the ADB for assistance but the program was still being fine tuned.
It will include ADB support to improve regulatory oversight and electronic systems, capital market instruments and institutions and the debt market.