But Sri Lanka still has to put the finishing touches on a preliminary agreement with bondholders on restructuring US$12.5 billion of debt ahead of a third IMF review later this year.
Higher taxes imposed under the IMF programme, prolonged inflation and a stagnant job market caused by the grinding crisis have plunged a quarter of the population into poverty and pushed thousands to migrate.
Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and parliamentarian Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who heads the Marxist-leaning Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), are expected to tap into this discontent as they make their presidential bids.
Both Premadasa and Dissanayake have publicly said that they will look at revamping the IMF programme to reduce the cost of living pressures on Sri Lankans and ease the country’s debt repayment burden.
Sri Lanka’s recovery is still very fragile and attempts to reverse the reforms could precipitate a new crisis, analysts said.
The new government will need to ensure the reforms are taken forward and concluded to transform the economy and put it on a positive track, they said.
