Govt now in a debt trap of their own making – Mahinda

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa says that having postponed elections, the government has been engaged in an effort to show that they still have public support by transporting people to political meetings so as to claim that they too have crowds just like the Joint Opposition. 

“This is the first time that I have seen a government competing with the opposition in this manner.” 

“The way I assessed public sentiment was by holding elections. But the present government is trying to avoid holding elections at any cost,” he said, delivering at the Battaramulla office of the Joint Opposition today (15).

Slamming the incumbent government over its economic policies, Rajapaksa said he was able to allocate sufficient funds to win the war that was thought to be unwinnable. 

The ex-President said he was able to ensure the territorial integrity of the country, to develop the economy and also to provide the people with many welfare measures all at the same time. Yet at the same time we kept reducing the level of indebtedness of the country year by year, he said. 

“Many analysts have described this as an economic miracle,” he claimed. 

To say that this country was facing a debt crisis by the end of 2014 is a barefaced lie, Rajapaksa said.

He said that all the economic problems of the yahapalana government are due to the fact that they “bribed” voters with salary increases and price reductions in order to win the 2015 August parliamentary elections. 

They thought only of winning the elections, not about how they would manage the country after winning, he charged. According to the Kurunegala District MP, this election related largesse set off a chain reaction which began with the loss of control over government expenditure, and an increase in the budget deficit. 

“Even though this government claims that they have won over the whole world, no foreign investment is coming in.” 

The only worthwhile investment taking place even now are the infrastructure projects that my government initiated, he said.

Experts predict that our debt to GDP ratio will increase to 82% by the end of this year, he said, adding, that it was only 70% when he left office. “The government is now in a debt trap of their own making.”

He said that now the government is trying to increase taxes on the people to repay the money they borrowed since coming into power and that they have given an undertaking to the IMF that they would do so. 

However when they try to implement these pledges given to the lending agencies, the business community, the ordinary public and the trade unions rise up in revolt, Rajapaksa says. 

“However the proposal to increase VAT has not yet been shelved. Cabinet has now approved a new VAT Bill to be submitted to parliament.  We have to remain vigilant.”

He also said that the part of the SLFP that is in the government will not be able to escape blame for the failings and the misdeeds of the government they serve in. 

Trying to portray themselves as anti-UNP while serving with the UNP in the same government, will not deceive the people any more, the former President said.

“We in the Joint Opposition are opposed to this hybrid government,” he said, adding that they have no journey to make clinging on to the “tail of the elephant.” 

“Many people have asked me whether a new political party is going to be formed to contest the next election. A political party is only a legal framework. The most important factor is that there is a political formation opposing the government,” he added.