Why Sri Lankan PM said – India’s help is not a bailout
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said in Parliament that the financial assistance from India is not a ‘donate’.
He said that the country is facing a serious economic crisis and it should have a plan to repay these debts.
Sri Lanka is facing the worst economic crisis since its independence in 1948, due to which there has been an acute shortage of essential items like food, medicine, cooking gas and fuel.
Wickremesinghe told Parliament, “We have taken a loan of US $ 4 billion under the Indian line of credit. We have requested our Indian counterparts to give more loans, but India will not be able to support us like this continuously. Even Their help also has its limits. On the other hand, we should also have a plan to repay these loans. These are not donations.”
According to news agency PTI, Ranil Wickremesinghe was telling Parliament about the steps taken by the government so far to combat the economic crisis.
Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said that a team of top officials of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is going to reach Colombo on Thursday i.e. today to assess the local economic conditions.
He said that Sri Lanka is now facing a much more dire situation than just lack of fuel, gas, electricity and food.
He said, “Our economy has suffered a complete collapse. This is the most serious issue before us today. These issues can only be resolved by reviving the Sri Lankan economy. To do this, we have to First of all, the problem of foreign exchange reserves has to be resolved.
He said that it is not an easy task to revive a country with a completely collapsed economy. Especially a country whose foreign exchange reserves are below dangerous levels.
Wickremesinghe said Sri Lanka’s only hope now lies with the International Monetary Fund. We should follow this path.
Sri Lanka, almost bankrupt, had announced in April itself that its country would not be able to pay foreign debt of about $ 7 billion.
Sri Lanka has to pay a total debt of $ 25 billion by the year 2026. The total foreign debt of Sri Lanka has now reached 51 billion dollars.
The credit lines received from India from January this year have proved to be a lifeline for Sri Lanka. Wickremesinghe said that a team of the US Treasury Department is also coming to Sri Lanka next Monday. He said that an official agreement is also expected to be signed with the International Monetary Fund by July this year.
It is being alleged that the ruling Rajapaksa family conspired to declare the country bankrupt. It is also alleged that the Rajapaksa family has acquired assets worth several billion dollars and hid them in the banks of Dubai, Seychelles and St. Martin.
The country cannot even buy oil
Wickremesinghe also told Parliament that his country was unable to buy even imported oil. He said it is difficult to buy fuel even in cash because of the heavy debt on Sri Lanka’s oil corporations.
According to the news agency AP, he told parliament, “Cylon Petroleum Corporation is currently in debt of $ 700 million. As a result, no country or organization in the world wants to give us fuel. They are hesitant to sell fuel even for cash.” are.”
Wickremesinghe was made the Prime Minister after massive protests in Sri Lanka due to the severe economic crisis. On Wednesday, Wickremesinghe accused the previous governments of not taking timely steps.
He said, “If steps had been taken to slow down the pace of the collapse of the economy in the beginning, we would not have been facing this difficult time today. But we missed this opportunity. Now we are showing signs of the collapse of the economy. are looking.”
