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<p>The UK is closely monitoring the political, security, and economic situation in
Sri Lanka, including the impact on livelihoods. We continue to encourage a peaceful,
democratic, and inclusive approach to resolving the current political and economic
challenges. The most recent available data (2020) for Sri Lanka indicates that it
performs well against South Asia neighbours on high-level human development and social
economic indicators, particularly infant mortality rates. However, the available data
does not capture the severity of the current economic crisis and impact of recent
economic shocks such as Covid-19, the Russia-Ukraine crisis, the floating of the Sri
Lankan Rupee (LKR) and Sri Lanka's debt default in May 2022. We have not made a recent
assessment comparing Sri Lankan indicators to those in South East Asian countries.</p><p>We
recognise the difficult economic situation and welcome the start of in-depth discussions
with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on reforms needed to bring the economy
back to a sustainable path. UK economic support is through multilateral institutions
like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank (WB) and United Nations (UN),
as underlined by the Prime Minister when he spoke to the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka
Ranil Wickremesinghe on 30 May.</p>
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