President Anura Kumara Dissanayake says he will do his utmost to uncover the truth on the 2019 Easter Sunday bomb attacks through a fresh probe.

Sri Lanka’s new president stuck to his campaign promises of reducing taxes and providing other relief to citizens in his first meeting with officials from International Monetary Fund since taking office.

Sri Lanka plans to move ahead with the third review of its nearly $3 billion programme of support from the International Monetary Fund, the new government said on Thursday, as the island nation seeks to emerge from its worst financial crisis in decades.

Sri Lanka's painful austerity measures were "bearing fruit" and must be sustained, the International Monetary Fund said Friday as the country's new president sought changes to its $2.9 billion bailout.

Sri Lanka's new president Thursday urged the IMF to consider "alternative means" to continue with a $2.9 billion bailout that aided his country in the wake of a sovereign default but imposed painful austerity.