Leader of the National People’s Power (NPP), Anura Kumara Dissanayake claims that the government burdened Sri Lankans immensely while implementing the International Monetary Fund (IMF) program and restructuring Sri Lanka’s debt.
While commending the government on getting Sri Lanka’s debt repayments postponed, the NPP leader went on to highlight however, that the government celebrated a temporary treatment to ‘self-inflicted’ problems.
He made these remarks while addressing a meeting of medical professionals in Kurunegala district, organized by the National Intellectual Organization today (06).
“It would have been impossible to implement the IMF programme without restructuring Sri Lanka’s debt. What did we do with the IMF? We came to an agreement with the IMF and we fulfilled a lot of the conditions outlined in that agreement”, Dissanayake said.
“A lot of those conditions were fulfilled by burdening the general public immensely”, he added.
Furthermore, the NPP Leader said: “to successfully restructure debt, the government had to present an acceptable balance sheet, by controlling expenditure and increasing income.”
“The balance sheet, prepared as such, indicates to the international community that the country’s debt servicing capabilities would improve in the future, establishing firm grounds for Sri Lanka to request for a postponement of debt service payments.”
“How did the restructuring of debt become such a festive occasion, even prompting the president to address the nation?, he questioned.
“I recently observed how India celebrated their successful moon landing. Here, in Sri Lanka we celebrate postponing debt repayments. We have no victories to celebrate as a nation. If we agreed to abide by the IMF program, restructuring debt is a mandatory condition. However, they have indeed managed to postpone the repayment of debt. That is actually not too bad.”
“But what actually happened was that they took on debt themselves, which they refused to pay. Then they negotiated an extension to the deadline for the repayment of debt and then celebrate it as an achievement”, said Dissanayake.
