The latest on the US$ 1.9 billion IMF standby facility is that the IMF’s Director General had assured Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal that it would come through.

"The Director General of the IMF has given me his personal assurance that based on considerations of economic principles, Sri Lanka would get the loan," Cabraal told the Sri Lanka Economic Summit last morning.

"We are sure it would come through and it would not take a long time, in a few weeks time perhaps. The IMF does not want to embarrass itself by denying the facility because we should get it purely based on the technical evaluations," he said.

Cabraal said the IMF loan was expected to come though last April to help buffer what he called a "perceived" balance of payments crisis.

"It did not come in April (as expected) so we have so far weathered it out. The need for it now is not as great back then with foreign currency flows coming in after the end of the war," he said.

"However, we would still like to have it as an anchor in these tough times," Cabraal said.

The US is delaying the IMF facility based on political considerations which is not in the IMF’s mandate.