Media Minister Godahewa blames all regimes and ex-trio for current crisis

• Opines crisis caused by heavy borrowing by successive regimes from $ 10 b to 35 b and failure of not boosting revenue to pay back debt
• Says former Secretary to the President, Treasury Secretary and Central Bank Governor were not the creators of crisis but they did not take timely corrective action
• Says those responsible must be held accountable but insists current focus should be on overcoming crisis
• Reveals SL has to pay back $ 5 b annually till 2026 

By Charumini de Silva

New Media Minister and Co-Cabinet Spokesman Dr. Nalaka Godahewa yesterday blamed all regimes as well as trio of former top officials for the current crisis and that those responsible must be held accountable but insisted

Minister and Cabinet Co-Spokesman  Dr. Nalaka Godahewa

focus now must be to come out of it. The trio are former Secretary to the President Dr. P.B. Jayasundera, former Treasury Secretary S.R. Attygalle and former Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal.

“I don’t think this crisis was created by those officials. This crisis has a longer history. The last three governments are all responsible for this crisis one way or another. The crisis was caused by excessive

debt taken by successive governments,” Godahewa told the post-Cabinet meeting media briefing.

He recalled in 2005 the external debt was only $ 10 billion and it increased to $ 13.4 billion by the end of 2014 and in 2019 was as high as $ 34.7 billion. According to him, Sri Lanka has to pay back about $ 5 billion annually as external debt till 2026. 

Godahewa also noted that the increased debt was not the main issue but the failure to boost revenue to service those external liabilities.

“When this Government came the crisis was already there,” said Godahewa adding that it was worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic which led to loss of inflows from tourism, workers remittances and foreign investments.

“The only mistake by those officials or whoever was not taking corrective actions on time. This was clearly articulated by Finance Minister Ali Sabry as well,” Godahewa said.

“So the fault is everywhere – those who created the crisis and those who couldn’t prevent the crisis. Some action has to be taken and people must be held accountable. But right now the bigger issue is not about punishing those people but how are we going to come out of the crisis since the entire nation is affected if you don’t find solutions,” Godahewa said.