Option 7 of 8

Combine several options

Use a mix: more revenue, careful spending, new loan terms and reforms, all at once and with outside support.

In the house

Take a second job, trim the monthly budget, and talk to the bank, all together, with a financial adviser checking your progress.

The idea

In practice, countries rarely rely on a single option. A programme usually combines several, and an outside lender such as the IMF reviews progress and releases money in stages.

How it works

Agree a plan with targets for revenue, spending and debt.
Negotiate new terms with lenders at the same time.
Review progress regularly and adjust.

How long

Multi-year. Sri Lanka's IMF programme has run through reviews from 2023 to the combined fifth and sixth reviews completed in May 2026, and its debt target is for 2032.

Who has to agree

Government, parliament, lenders and the IMF.

Who feels it first

Several groups at once, as each lever lands on different people.

What makes it hard

Many moving parts, and a shock to one can disturb the others.
Public patience for a long programme can wear thin.
Targets can be missed or revised, so progress is checked at each review.

How people and the world may react

Households

A mix spreads the burden, but people feel several changes together.

Businesses

A clear, steady plan can build trust, provided the rules stay stable.

Lenders and other countries

Lenders and the IMF generally prefer a credible mix to a single measure.

Pros and cons

Pros

Spreads the effort across several routes.
Outside review keeps the plan on track.
A credible plan can help restore access to borrowing.

Cons

Complex to manage and explain.
Conditions attached to outside support limit choices.
Takes years.

A real example

Sri Lanka's current path

Sri Lanka is in an IMF supported programme. The IMF's debt targets are public debt below 95% of GDP by 2032, and central government gross financing needs below 13% of GDP on average in 2027 to 2032. IMF figures on this site show general government gross debt at 115.9% of GDP in 2022, 96.8% in 2025, and a projection of 84.7% in 2030.

Sources:

Try it with numbers

The starting settings show this option as a simple example. Change any slider to explore. Open the full calculator, or build a mix of options in Try your strategy.

Growth, inflation and the primary surplus follow the IMF figures shown on this site for 2030.

Real growth of the economy % a year Inflation % a year Average interest rate on the debt % Primary surplus (income minus spending, before interest) % of GDP

Each year, debt as a share of GDP = last year's share × (1 + interest rate) ÷ (1 + growth of GDP in rupees) − primary surplus. Growth in rupees combines real growth and inflation. Debt starts at 96.8% of GDP in 2025 (IMF, general government gross debt). The interest rate is the Central Bank's actual interest paid in 2025 divided by central government debt at the end of 2025. This is a simple illustration with the settings you choose, not a forecast, and it cannot show shocks such as exchange rate moves or new borrowing for other reasons.

These pages describe options and what happened when countries tried them. Budgets LK does not recommend any option, and nothing here is a forecast or financial advice.