Top economist and veteran banker Dr. W.A. Wijewardena said Sri Lanka might not be able to sign the Millennium Challenge Corporation agreement on time.

Sri Lanka will lose eligibility to the grant from January next year, due to its current status as a higher middle income country.

The agreement should be signed before mid-December if Sri Lanka decides to proceed with the grant.

However, Dr. Wijewardena tweeted that the possibility of Sri Lanka meeting this deadline is extremely thin due to a number of reasons.

Listing out the reasons, Wijewardena said, "1) Presidential election; 2) political uncertainty after the election;3) objections by civil and religious leaders;4) Supreme Court case against it (MCC); 5 )Parliament and SC going into a vacation in December"

Wjewardena also made a tongue in cheek remark that Sri Lanka should look for funding for the same project elsewhere and indicated that China would be a good source of funding.