Following a visit from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), IMF's mission chief for Sri Lanka Masahiro Nozaki noted that Sri Lanka has not sought financial support from the IMF despite their willingness to discuss options.
Sri Lanka has continued to reject IMF assistance with government minister  Vasudeva Nanayakkara telling parliament that he would rather the government destroyed than turn to the IMF.

“Even if we die, we will not seek assistance from the IMF. This is the final thing I have to say. Even if this Government, our Government gets destroyed, we are not prepared to reach out to the IMF and destroy the lives of our people,” he stated.

At the start of this year, Sri Lanka’s Central Bank Governor, Weligamage Don Lakshman, rejected the possibility of turning to the IMF for support. IMF’s prescriptions which include fiscal consolidation and removing caps on borrowing costs would undermine Sri Lanka’s sovereignty, he maintained. Instead of turning to the IMF, Sri Lanka has increasingly turned to support from Bangladesh and China.

Sri Lanka's refusal comes as food prices continue to soar and nutritional experts warn that people will suffer malnutrition as they begin rationing food. Responding to Sri Lanka's ongoing economic crisis, the Fitch Rating Agency has downgraded the country’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to ‘CC’, from ‘CCC’, a move that reflects the dire state of Colombo's finances.

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