IMF deal gets Parliament nod, but its opposition supporters choose to give vote a miss

Amid a walkout by the main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), Parliament passed the Resolution on the implementation of the arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The resolution received 120 votes in favour and 25 against. The ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) voted in favour of the resolution and was joined by some MPs sitting with the opposition.

While the SJB staged a walkout before the vote started, Colombo District Parliamentarian AHM Fowzie chose to stay behind and vote in favour of the resolution. Other opposition MPs who voted for the motion included Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, John Seneviratne and Sudarshini Fernandopulle. Former President and Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Chairman Maithripala Sirisena and other SLFP MPs backing him were not present in the House during the vote. Anuradhapura District SLFP MP Duminda Dissanayake, though, was present and voted in favour of the resolution.

MPs from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) were also absent at the time of voting, while those from the National People’s Power (NPP), Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) and opposition alliance parties under Wimal Weerawansa (Uththara Lanka Sabhagaya) and Dullas Alahapperuma (Freedom People’ Congress) voted against the resolution.

Speaking prior to the vote, SJB Dr Harsha De Silva said that the debate and the vote were an attempt to show that the IMF programme had the people’s mandate. “But you can’t show the people’s mandate in this distorted Parliament,” he said and called for the obtaining of the people’s mandate at an election. He also said the SJB and its alliance parties were not against going to the IMF.

Though Sri Lanka has gone to the IMF on 16 previous occasions, this is the first occasion that a dedicated debate on such an approach has been held and all relevant documents related to an agreement has been presented to Parliament by the President, Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said.

State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya told the House that some in the opposition were asking why the government was presenting the resolution when it had already reached an agreement with the IMF, but it was being done as a special courtesy to the institution that was in charge of public finances.

He called on lawmakers to look into the matter positively and insisted that the government would take note of the proposals made by both government and opposition MPs and incorporate them later when the agreement was reviewed every six months.

Stating that his party would vote against the resolution, NPP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake described President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s moves to implement all the conditions in the agreement as “maniacal”.

He pointed to statements made by the President to shut down the stock exchange, confiscate the property of lecturers who took trade union action and the threats he held out to banks that raised fears about stability in the banking system, asking them to take over the economy if they were not in agreement with him.

Mr Dissanayake insisted that taking out more loans and selling off national assets were not the answer to the problem. “We need both economic and political reforms for this to succeed,” he said.

Parliament will convene next on May 9 at 9.30 am.