Country is bankrupt, whilst Govt. passes the buck: SJB

• Alleges Govt. completely mismanaging economy, crisis worsens due to inaction
• Restructuring is not considered to support Govt. henchmen
• Opines Sri Lanka will be humiliated before world community

By Darshana Abayasingha

SJB MP Dr. Harsha de Silva

SJB MP Eran Wickramaratne

SJB MP Kabir Hashim

The main Opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) yesterday declared that the country is bankrupt whilst the Government is evading responsibility by passing the buck. 

“The long queues for fuel and other essentials and the ongoing power crisis are ample proof that the country is now bankrupt,” parliamentarian Dr. Harsha De Silva told the media yesterday in SJB’s fortnightly briefing along with Kabir Hashim and Eran Wickramaratne. 

“The Government and its members only keep passing the buck, and are still not interested in finding real solutions to the ongoing crisis,” de Silva alleged.

The SJB said that since November 2020 the party had warned in parliament about this looming situation, as Government members continued to jeer and heckle the opposition on its claims. “See what has happened now. The Central Bank Governor still maintains there is no crisis,” De Silva said. 

The parliamentarian questioned why the Government is reluctant to restructure its sovereign debt, and charged that the state action to meet the debt payment of $ 500 million on 18 January had compounded the issue, and as a result the public is now suffering on the streets in queues. “We continuously said don’t default, but restructure the debt. This is now the responsibility of President Rajapaksa to gather his troops and find a solution, irrespective of what are its causes. They say the opposition is not supporting the Government’s effort, we have said we will offer all necessary support as this is a matter of national importance. 

There is another $ 1 billion due in June. You can imagine what will happen to the people and this country if we try to honour it as opposed to restructure it. Now even Government ministers and its agents are coming out and saying we should restructure. They claim they advised so, then if it’s not being done where is the problem?” De Silva said.  

The SJB MP urged the president and the Government to consider the recommendations of the opposition and engage all parties to find solutions. The IMF and the rest of the world says our debt is not sustainable, but we say otherwise and that is a fairy tale no one else is ready to believe, he said. 

“Sri Lanka will be humiliated before the rest of the world if we continue like this. We can’t afford to pay our debts now, we have to go for a restructuring,” he said. 

SJB MP Eran Wickramarathne said: “When there is no war or terrorism in the country, there are long queues at petrol stations without diesel. The Central Bank does not have the dollars to bring in fuel from vessels anchored outside the port. But the Central Bank Governor saying there is no shortage of dollars in the country is an irony. 

Since the Government does not have dollars, oil is purchased on a reloading process. Now the country is bankrupt as there is now a dollar shortage event to buy on a reload system. The Opposition realised from the beginning that this Government, which is more greedy for power than the country, has no solution to these problems.”

Under this backdrop, the macroeconomic system has become unmanageable and weakening the banking system, and making it vulnerable to external economic pressures as a country, he added. Those who are responsible for the collapse of the country’s economic icons, the Central Bank, and the Ministry of Finance, should be removed from their posts and sent home, Wickremarathne added.

Gather the parliament and inform the house and the public how we will move forward, what is the plan of the Government to overcome this situation? If the Government is unable to manage the situation it should resign and hand over power or go for elections, remarked MP Kabir Hashim. 

The President claims this foreign exchange is not a cause of its Government. “That is wrong,” Hashim added. The Government completely mismanaged the economy and exacerbated this situation, he charged.  

Pix by Ruwan Walpola