Sri Lanka's growth is expected to turn positive in the third quarter of 2023 for the first time in six successive quarters, Sri Lanka State Finance Minister Shehan Semasinghe said on Thursday.

The island nation will redouble efforts to secure commitments from bilateral creditors and bondholders in the first quarter of 2024, he added.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), which cleared the first review of Sri Lanka's $2.9 billion bailout earlier this week, predicts a contraction of 3.6% in the country for 2023 and 1.8% for next year.

(Reporting by Uditha Jayasinghe; writing by Sakshi Dayal; editing by Christina Fincher)