TISL launches public oversight tool for monitoring critical governance reforms under IMF program

In a significant step towards strengthening public accountability in the reform process, Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) has launched the Government Action Plan (GAP) Tracker – an independent online platform that monitors the Government’s progress in implementing key governance and anti-corruption reforms outlined in the GAP under the International Monetary Fund (IMF)-supported program. Two years after the ‘Aragalaya’ – the mass people’s uprising that demanded an end to corruption, impunity, and unaccountable governance – the country continues to grapple with the fallout of decades of mismanagement and weak governance structures. The economic crisis that followed was not merely financial; it was a collapse rooted in institutional decay and systemic failures. 

In 2023, Sri Lanka entered into a four-year agreement with the IMF, anchored in a reform-based recovery program.

One of the key outcomes of this agreement was the IMF’s first-ever Governance Diagnostic Assessment in Asia, which exposed entrenched weaknesses in Sri Lanka’s public finance, tax policy, procurement systems, financial oversight, and anti-corruption landscape. In response, the Government committed to a reform roadmap based on the IMF’s priority recommendations; a Government Action Plan. This plan forms a structural benchmark under the Second Review of Sri Lanka’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF), making it an important aspect of the country’s ongoing recovery efforts.

Despite the significance of these reforms, there has been no official monitoring mechanism to assess the Government’s progress. The absence of an effective monitoring mechanism and public reporting has left citizens, civil society, development partners, and other stakeholders in the dark about whether meaningful change is truly underway.

The GAP Tracker was created to fill this gap. This independent tool is designed to publicly track the Government’s implementation of its reform commitments under its Action Plan. The platform is interactive, periodically updated, and accessible.

Through the GAP Tracker, users can:

• Track individual reform commitments by theme, institution, and timeline.
• Monitor progress on real-time updates and identify delays, systemic and procedural issues concerning implementation, missed deadlines, and revised commitments.
• Evaluate transparency and accountability, public access to information, the inclusiveness of policy processes, and public reporting.
• Flag concerns about backsliding, superficial compliance, or reform dilution.

Some of the reform commitments have already encountered delays and concerns surrounding the closed-door approach to implementation. The tracker not only reveals what has been done and what remains pending – it also examines the depth, quality, and legitimacy of the reform process. It asks: Are these changes being made transparently? Are citizens being consulted? Are we dismantling the structures that led to the collapse, or simply repackaging them?

Sri Lanka’s crisis was never just economic. It was a product of institutional failure, political patronage, and weak checks and balances. The current reform agenda, driven in part by international lenders, presents a rare opportunity to rebuild State institutions, embed accountability, and restore public trust. But without independent public oversight, that opportunity risks being wasted. Commitments on paper mean little without implementation. And implementation without transparency opens the door to token compliance, policy manipulation, and absence of accountability.

The GAP Tracker puts the power of oversight into the hands of the public. It empowers civil society, journalists, and everyday citizens to follow the reform and follow the truth – because meaningful change can only happen when power is held to account.

The ‘GAP Tracker’ can be accessed via https://www.tisrilanka.org/government-action-plan-tracker/.