Prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told Parliament that Sri Lanka is facing a daunting task as a bankrupt country to revive the economy. The journey is arduous and going through a labyrinth to reach the goal of economic recovery by 2026.
He told Parliament, “In the past, we asked for loans as a developing country! Now we have to go as a country into the abyss of an unprecedented economic downturn.”
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told Parliament today that it would take at least another four years until 2026 for the country to recover and reach the economic status of 2018.
” We have to go before the world as a bankrupt country”.
The Prime Minister said that Sri Lanka had gone before the International Monetary Fund on many occasions.
However, on this occasion, he said we had to ask for aid as a bankrupt state.
President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was also present in the well of the House when the Prime Minister told the House the actual situation we are in as a country.
The Prime Minister stated that he was optimistic about the progress of the negotiations led by the representatives of the International Monetary Fund and pointed out that the journey along with the IMF this year for the extended fund facility is an arduous task.
“Sri Lanka has gone to the International Monetary Fund before. This time Sri Lanka’s journey is different,” he said.
The situation is serious. We used to be a developing country.
To get assistance from a conversation between the two parties. It seems to go along one straight line.
This time we are participating in the negotiations as a bankrupt country.
You have to face a rather difficult situation.
Consent can be approved. We have to submit a waste planning report on debt sustainability. Only when the IMF is satisfied can we enter into a staff-level agreement. It’s been a difficult journey, similar to going through a maze or labyrinth. However, we are happy to conclude the negotiations with them effectively. We are working towards debt sustainability and debt restructuring. When we accomplish these tasks, it will be possible to reach a staff-level agreement in August. After agreeing with the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund, we hope to go for an extended fund facility program for four years.
With this agreement, India, China and Japan are discussing organizing an aid conference with our friendly countries. We are arranging a system to get loans from them. India, which gave us concessions, has also had to limit the facility due to the global crisis.
According to our central bank, the country’s economic growth rate in 2022 is -4.5.
Between minus 6 and 7, according to the IMF forecast. The income of our country has collapsed. With that, we have only 28 billion dollars of debt to pay by 2027. It is the actual situation.
Our national debt is 140 per cent of GDP. We have prepared plans to make it 95 per cent in 2030. . Our income is 7.3% of GDP. There are plans to make it 14 per cent by 2026,” he said.