Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena expressed hope that, with the receipt of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) $ 2.9 billion assistance, about which the final decision is to be reached this week, the doors of the country’s economy will be opened again to the international community. With this decision, he added, the suspension imposed on Sri Lanka by the international banking system will be lifted, and transactions will be easier.
He made these remarks during a recent progress review meeting of the “Aluth Gamak-Aluth Ratak” National Development Programme, where he further stated: “One of the main problems that occurred in the last period was the foreign exchange crisis and the international debt payment crisis that occurred at the same time. As a result, the process of temporarily halting the financial institutions that worked with us had an adverse effect on the implementation of our financial policies. That is why we moved from earning foreign exchange to reducing the amount spent on imports. This was also aimed at finding new ways to enter the export sector, in order to restore the economy from the state of bankruptcy. Accordingly, we called for the support of the IMF, the World Bank, countries like India, China and Japan, and Europe.
During his speech, the Prime Minister spoke extensively of strengthening rural economies and the agriculture sector, noting that the Government is committed to achieving those. Even though not every village will be self-sufficient in everything, he explained, every village could be self-sufficient in at least some agricultural food production. He added that many resources and strengths Sri Lanka has should be utilised to rebuild the economy.
In addition, requesting the public to extend their support to nation rebuilding efforts, he further spoke of the recent protests staged by professionals and high-ranking public officials against income tax rate hikes. Expressing displeasure about certain workers refusing to adhere to the new tax rates, he opined that it is very regrettable when public officials strike in order to prevent the country’s lowest income earners from being given what they deserve, he added that if one faces an issue of having to pay high tax rates, it is a separate problem which is related to their profession.
“We do not expect to violate any professional and organisational rights. But, if political rights are used to violate professional rights, it has to be considered a process of working against one’s own duty. We request you to support us in maintaining the social safety net,” the Prime Minister opined.
Source By themorning.lk
