The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has forecast that Sri Lanka’s economy will expand by 3.1% in 2026, reflecting continued recovery under the country’s ongoing economic reform program.

This projection was announced by Thomas Helbling, Deputy Director of the IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department, during a press conference on the Asia and Pacific Region’s Economic Outlook.

Helbling highlighted that Sri Lanka has shown strong signs of recovery, with economic growth reaching 5% in 2024 and 4.8% during the first half of 2025, as the government implements reforms supported by the IMF.

Commenting further, Helbling stated:

“Some of the strong rebound was due to normalization in economic activity, and part of that growth is temporary. We expect Sri Lanka to return to its trend growth rate of 3.1%, and given the stronger-than-expected rebound in 2024 and 2025, this return to trend is happening sooner than initially projected.”