New tracker to monitor Sri Lanka’s governance and anti-corruption reforms

In a major step toward strengthening accountability in Sri Lanka’s reform process, Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) has launched the Government Action Plan (GAP) Tracker, an independent online platform designed to monitor the government’s progress in implementing key governance and anti-corruption reforms under the IMF-supported program.

The launch comes two years after the Aragalaya, the mass public uprising that demanded an end to corruption, impunity, and unaccountable governance. Although Sri Lanka has since entered a four-year agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to support economic recovery, concerns remain about the depth and transparency of reforms.

A central feature of the IMF agreement was the first-ever Governance Diagnostic Assessment in Asia. The assessment identified serious structural weaknesses in public finance, taxation, procurement, financial oversight, and anti-corruption mechanisms in Sri Lanka. In response, the government introduced a reform roadmap, the Government Action Plan ,based on the IMF’s priority recommendations. This Action Plan serves as a Structural Benchmark under the second review of Sri Lanka’s Extended Fund Facility.

Despite the importance of these reforms, there has been no official public system to monitor their implementation , until now. The GAP Tracker was developed to address this gap, offering the public an interactive, regularly updated platform to assess the government’s performance in meeting its reform commitments.

Key features of the GAP Tracker include:

• Tracking of individual reform commitments by theme, institution, and timeline.
• Real-time updates highlighting delays, procedural issues, missed deadlines, and any changes to original commitments.
• Evaluation of transparency, public access to information, inclusiveness of policymaking, and official reporting.
• A space to flag concerns about reform backsliding, token compliance, or lack of genuine change.

Some reform commitments have already faced delays and raised concerns about the opaque manner of their execution. The GAP Tracker provides insight into what progress has been made, what remains incomplete, and the overall quality and legitimacy of the reform process.

Sri Lanka’s crisis was not merely economic , it was deeply rooted in decades of institutional breakdown, weak checks and balances, and political patronage. The current reform agenda, while backed by international pressure, offers a rare opportunity to rebuild public trust and ensure accountability. However, without independent public oversight, this opportunity may be squandered.

By making reform tracking transparent and accessible, the GAP Tracker puts the power of oversight in the hands of the public , civil society, journalists, and citizens alike , to follow through on reforms and ensure real progress.