Samagi Jana Balawegaya Member of Parliament Dr Harsha De Silva says that after securing the 250 million dollars that Bangladesh promised, Bangladesh is now coming after Sri Lanka and asking for the money at the expiry of the stipulated time frame.
The MP said that the people of Sri Lanka are ashamed not because of their own faults but because of the many people who have mismanaged the country.
Originally, Sri Lanka arranged to receive this loan in 2021 as a swap. It was promised to be paid back in three months, but the economic situation forced the repayment period to be postponed. Showing the difference between the two countries, he also stated that while Sri Lanka has become the country that is on a fast track to poverty in the world, Bangladesh is making a rapid exit from poverty
“The question today is how the country’s economy will be in 2023 rather than 2022. The year 2022 witnessed the biggest crash in the country’s history. Sri Lanka was noted as one of the most failed countries in the world last year. With poverty tripled
The industrial sector has completely collapsed and the headline of a major newspaper today said that twenty thousand more establishments would have to go out of business this year.
Small and medium-scale industrialists are under a lot of pressure without having anything to say about how they can run a company after paying 30% to 35% interest on loans they obtain.
Shortly after tomorrow, the electricity bill will increase again. However, at the same time, the overall cost will rise. Therefore, they have a big problem in their minds as to how to push the increased cost to the customer. Several major industries have also been hit. They can’t buy the raw materials and intermediate goods they need. The problem with the dollar is that now the world’s growth rate has decreased and Europe and America are entering an economic recession. Furthermore, demand is declining.
If we take it from the consumer’s side, domestic inflation was 57% at the end of December. Our country is one of the countries with the highest inflation in the world. I have heard some politicians say that inflation has decreased here. What do they mean by that? That it is less than 57% or that the price of goods has been increasing for 12 months last year at a rate of 57%. This cannot be sustained. The government has not given any relief to the people to bear the cost of goods. By the day after tomorrow, the rate of price increases in goods will lead to inflation among the people.
The main reason is the expected increase in the electricity bill. Meanwhile, the taxes of the people have skyrocketed. Through this, the money left to spend has decreased. When employees receive their salaries in January, the respective institutions will deduct the higher taxes. Tax rates have increased from 6% to 36%. The price of goods is rising, but incomes are decreasing, and the burden of life is becoming too heavy for many.
By 2023, if the country continues in this manner, the people will have no hope. But if we look at the world and our neighbors, we see a completely different story. India is developing rapidly. Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and South India’s economies are growing faster than ever.
What has been seen is that Bangladesh is a country that is rapidly moving away from poverty. Industries are growing, jobs are being created, Vietnam is developing at an unimaginable speed in South East Asian countries, and African countries like Rwanda are developing rapidly. There are those who say that this is not a global issue that Sri Lanka has to deal with. This is a problem created by Sri Lankan politicians recently, led by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. We admit that the macroeconomic situation in Sri Lanka was not that healthy, that’s right, there were a lot of problems, starting with the coup in October 2018, we had to face a lot of problems with the Easter attack in 2019, but the country was moving forward in a way, but it has been completely destroyed and now Gotabhaya Rajapaksa Newspapers and TV shows that he is on a trip to Dubai with his family members, but the people of the country he has bankrupted have fallen into poverty, unable to eat a single square meal.
What did Bloomberg Global Media say yesterday? In relation to the question of whether Sri Lanka’s problem can be resolved in the near future. At least they tried to convince President Ranil Wickremesinghe that four billion is coming from Japan and two billion is coming from another place. This will solve Sri Lanka’s diplomatic problems. Sorry, not a single cent has come from the money you mentioned. A small amount of aid and medicine have been provided. And America is said to be sending 240 million dollars in aid. Fertilizers are going to be given some support to the farmers, but this is not what we are talking about. What happened to diplomatic relations to save Sri Lanka from its debt trap? As of today, China still has not agreed to a program to reform Sri Lanka’s debt. India has not agreed.
There was a disagreement with the Paris Club. In the meantime, some countries could not pay the amount of interest that Sri Lankan Airlines had to pay without the intervention of the government of Sri Lanka.
We are in a position where we cannot move forward without creating a market economy. We will continue to break down the walls around the country and build bridges from the country to the world. After learning from the successful achievements of Sri Lanka as the center of the ocean for centuries, in the next twenty-five years, this area will rapidly grow. As we grow and transform into the region with the highest economic growth in the world, we will connect with the world. We will build our success together with theirs. We focus on social justice and justice. That is our program. All of that has been combined. As a group, we present the Samagi Jana Balawegaya program to the people of this country. We do everything we can for our country.
If we are in the driving seat we can take the country forward. If we are given democracy, the president has the ability to do that. The goal is to get a government with a mandate
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