Ranil: Govt.'s priority should be resolving economic crisis
Former Prime Minister and United National Party ( UNP) leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has called on the Government to place its top priority on resolving the ongoing economic crisis and warned that a delay would make the recovery difficult.
“If the issue of resolving the economic crisis is delayed it would take longer time for the recovery,” Mr Wickremesinghe said in an interview to journalists of Sunday newspapers.
“If you start now, the situation could be stabilised by 2023, but the situation will be worse if the number of persons losing employment increases, companies collapse, and starvation increases,” he said.
“We should not have suspended debt payment and gone to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) earlier. Basically we were credit worthy and it was the Government which brought it down. We should have done it overnight,” said Mr Wickremesinghe, responding to a question about the decision to suspend foreign debt repayments.
“The question is who is responsible for this situation,” he said.
He said Finance Minister Ali Sabry has already spelt out some of the reasons for the downfall of the economy and among them have been the reduction of taxes and the failure to go to the IMF earlier. “In addition the decision not to bring in chemical fertilizer also created a food crisis.”
The former Prime Minister said the Indian credit line for fuel will end in June after an extended credit line of US$ 500 million ends. Another US$ 1 billion also have been sought and that too will end by June. Also the Indian credit line cannot be used for other requirements, he said.
“Economic issues should be separated from the political issues and Parliament should exercise its powers on public finances," Mr. Wickremesinghe added.
He said he was opposed to the 20th Amendment and believed the 21st Amendment to be introduced was good. However, he said this was not the right time to introduce the amendment as it would not be a solution to the economic problems. "The people will rise against us if the economic problems are not resolved."
Mr Wickremesinghe ruled out the possibility of conducting parliamentary elections in view of the current economic situation.
“We cannot go for elections now. We need to stabilise the economy first. The cost of conducting the elections last time was around Rs 10 billion and this time, it may go up to Rs 20 billion. With other gov
ernment expenses the figure may reach Rs 25 billion. Besides, candidates from the main parties would have to spend around Rs 25 million each and the total figure may be around Rs 65 billion. When private enterprises and people don’t have the money you can't go for elections. It is easier to resolve the economic issues," he added.
Commenting on the political crisis, he said “the opposition takes the position that the President and the Prime Minister should go, but unless there is some agreement between the opposition and the Government I can't see how the issue could be resolved.”