IMF MD voices support during visit to cyclone-hit community

Thursday, 19 February 2026 02:31 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Dr. Kristalina Georgieva on Tuesday conveyed a message of solidarity and admiration to communities affected by Cyclone Ditwah, praising their resilience and the Government’s swift response to the disaster.

In a video message shared via her ‘X’ during her visit to Mawathura village in the Udapalatha Divisional Secretariat Division, one of the most sensitive zones impacted by the national disaster, to inspect the site of a landslide triggered during Cyclone Ditwah, Dr. Georgieva said she had come “to pass a message of admiration for your strength, for your resilience, and of deep sympathy for your devastation that has affected this community.”

She commended the Government’s rapid action in the aftermath of the November 2025 cyclone, noting the “commitment of the President and everybody around him to build back better.”

Describing Sri Lanka as “a beautiful country with beautiful, strong people,” she expressed confidence that the nation would recover and prosper.

Her remarks follow the IMF Executive Board’s approval in December 2025 of $ 206 million (SDR 150.5 million) in emergency financial assistance to Sri Lanka under the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI). The one-off disbursement is designed to help address urgent balance of payments and fiscal pressures triggered by the cyclone’s widespread destruction.

The emergency funding, provided without ex-post conditionality, is intended to support immediate reconstruction and recovery efforts, while the review of Sri Lanka’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program has been deferred.

Cyclone Ditwah, which struck in November 2025, caused significant damage to infrastructure, housing, and livelihoods, intensifying existing economic pressures as the country continues its reform program under IMF support.