MONETABRIEF – The International Monetary Fund has warned against watering down the Anti-Corruption Act by changing the provisions asset declarations and reducing public debate .
"Preserving the integrity of the anti-corruption legislative framework is critical to enhance public trust," a statement issued at the end of a mission said.
"Select clauses from the recently tabled amendments could weaken transparency and accountability."
Sri Lanka's Anti-corruption Act and operationalizing the asset declaration framework, were structural benchmarks of the IMF program after a governance diagnostic was done by the agency.
"The reason we raised some of these concerns in this language we have in the press release is that some clauses in the proposed amendments presented in the July 26th amendment have the risk weakening some of the key elements of what made the Anti-Corruption Act a good act," Mission Evan Papageorgiou told reporters.
"And that has to do with the asset declaration framework and the broader anti-corruption agenda.
"So, our message was to the authorities and to everybody was to reconsider these amendments and make sure that they work, but they do not undo the good work that has already been done and to continue down the path of making anti-corruption a significant priority.
"Some of these proposed amendments, you know, include the restriction of the use of the asset declarations which may be affecting the public debate and undermining accountability. We don't want this to happen.
"Another amendment is to substantially broaden the scope and discretion to a reduction on what is published. So we think this should be addressed, should be fixed.
"And then obviously, what is the coverage of the asset declaration. We don't want this to be too narrow or not what will be included.
"So these are all important things that we have discussed and of course we have offered ongoing assistance to all relevant authorities in Sri Lnaka in bringing in our experts on these issues." (Colombo/Sept24/2026)