Saturday May 18, 2024
Saturday May 18, 2024
Thursday, 9 December 2021 00:30 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
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| SJB MP Dr. Harsha de Silva
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Main Opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya MP Dr. Harsha de Silva yesterday compared the country to a critically ill patient and said the only way to save the country from its dire economic woes was to reach out to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“If there is a seriously ill child, we have to put that child in the intensive care unit to save him. We cannot take him home and say, ‘I will give some ‘kasaya’ and he will be cured’.
The child is the 21 million people of this country who have to be saved from the worst economic crisis that is unfolding in front of us,” Dr. de Silva said in Parliament.
He said the economic situation in the country was very serious and that the country was way past the home-grown solutions that the Government has been talking about.
“There is an alternative that Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa and Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal can seize, and that is to reach out to the IMF. We can no longer depend on home-grown solutions or say we have a six-month roadmap in place,” the SJB MP said.
He said that as per the statistics released by the Central Bank, the country’s foreign reserves had shrunk by 30% between October and November, and that by the end of January, reserves would be a negative $ 450 million.
“Our economy has never been in this kind of situation before. The Government has said it expects foreign exchange to come in but none of the plans announced have materialised.”
He said that by the end of January, loan payments amount to $ 500 million would be due and that while the Government was holding onto foreign exchange to make those payments, they were ignoring the import of essential items such as medicine, etc.
“If we are unable to settle the due loan repayments, the whole system will shut down,” he warned, while reasserting that the IMF is the only alternative left.
