We are bound to lose everything we gained following the introduction of the open economy in 1977 if the present economic crisis continues UNP Leader and former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said today.
He was addressing a Youth organisation meeting of the UNP in Borella
If the economic recovery is delayed people may have to forego one meal a day and if the present trend continues it will take at least a decade for the economy to recover to a reasonable level.
The businesses are running at a loss and they have started laying off people and this trend is likely to continue until 2022 MrWickremesinghe said.
“No one is talking about the present crisis especially because the media has projected a wrong and an overestimated picture of the government’s capabilities.
“Sri Lanka’s foreign reserves declined to $4.5 billion while its foreign debt services for this year will also be the same amount. This is the first crisis. The previous government was able to increase the foreign reserves from $7.5 billion to $8 billion. We managed to generate revenue that was sufficient to meet day-to-day expenditure, and we had funds for debt servicing to some extent.
The present regime as they assumed office offered high tax concessions to large scale companies resulting in a huge loss of revenue to the government which on the other hand compelled the government to print money. The total amount printed up to now is higher than thrice the amount which the previous regime and our government printed. This has increased prices. This is only a beginning. One might see stars by the end of the year,” he added.
“The Government had asked for a $2 billion currency swap from India and China. It is not clear whether it could get that amount. The government should now go to the IMF and ask for a restructuring of the economy and stabilisation. They can look for other sources China is an option in this regard. The other issue is development coming to a standstill. There are a few projects which our government approved in 2019. However, some investors have called off some of these projects. He said and opted to go elsewhere.
bleak picture of the economy
We are bound to lose everything we gained following the introduction of the open economy in 1977 if the present economic crisis continues UNP Leader and former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said today.
He was addressing a Youth organisation meeting of the UNP in Borella
If the economic recovery is delayed people may have to forego one meal a day and if the present trend continues it will take at least a decade for the economy to recover to a reasonable level.
The businesses are running at a loss and they have started laying off people and this trend is likely to continue until 2022 MrWickremesinghe said.
“No one is talking about the present crisis especially because the media has projected a wrong and an overestimated picture of the government’s capabilities.
“Sri Lanka’s foreign reserves declined to $4.5 billion while its foreign debt services for this year will also be the same amount. This is the first crisis. The previous government was able to increase the foreign reserves from $7.5 billion to $8 billion. We managed to generate revenue that was sufficient to meet day-to-day expenditure, and we had funds for debt servicing to some extent.
The present regime as they assumed office offered high tax concessions to large scale companies resulting in a huge loss of revenue to the government which on the other hand compelled the government to print money. The total amount printed up to now is higher than thrice the amount which the previous regime and our government printed. This has increased prices. This is only a beginning. One might see stars by the end of the year,” he added.
“The Government had asked for a $2 billion currency swap from India and China. It is not clear whether it could get that amount. The government should now go to the IMF and ask for a restructuring of the economy and stabilisation. They can look for other sources China is an option in this regard. The other issue is development coming to a standstill. There are a few projects which our government approved in 2019. However, some investors have called off some of these projects. He said and opted to go elsewhere.
