Colombo – A visiting International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation to Sri Lanka Tuesday declared that the country's economic revival was better than expected and raised theeconomic growth rate target from 3.0 per cent to 3.5 per cent thisyear. The delegation led by Brian Aitken, IMF mission chief to Sri Lanka, announced that the secondpay-out of about 320 million dollars from the 2.6-billion-dollar IMF loan would be released in the second half of October, pending IMF board approval.
"Exports and imports are improving and we have a cautiously positive outlook for the Sri Lankan economy," Aitken said.
The delegation noted that tax revenue has been improving, which is a sign of the economy improving.
Sri Lanka is trying to revive its economy after the end of the 26-year civil war in the northern and eastern parts of the country where minority Tamil rebels were fighting for an independent homeland. The fighting against the rebels ended on May 18 after their leadership was killed, but 250,000 displacedpersons still live in camps.
The country is expecting a revival in the tourist industry which suffered during the war.
