COLOMBO, April 30 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's Central bank said on Thursday there was no delay in the application process for a $1.9 billion International Monetary Fund loan and negotiations were at a final level.
Its comments came after Reuters reported U.S. officials as saying Washington had decided to delay the loan to try to pressure Colombo to do more to help civilians caught in fighting between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels.
"This is completely wrong. There is no delay in the loan process. The negotiations have been finalised. The technical level evaluations are over," K.D Ranasinghe, acting director at the central bank's economic research department, told Reuters. The central bank said separately in a statement that the process for the Stand-By-Arrangement facility Sri Lanka sought from the IMF had reached an advanced level of finalisation.
It said a Safeguards Assessment mission from the IMF was in Colombo having discussions with senior officials of the government and the bank as a part of the process.
"It takes time to go through all the procedure required for the loan. So, once everything is done, they will submit the request to the IMF executive board soon," Ranasinghe said.
Sri Lanka wants the loan to help the redevelopment process as its long-running civil war nears a conclusion, and analysts say it will also help the country's balance of payments position and provide support for the rupee currency. (Reporting By Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez; Editing by Jerry Norton)