Ranil insists IMF support key to resolve economic crisis

UNP Leader and former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe this week reiterated that Sri Lanka has no alternative but to seek the assistance of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to overcome the 

economic crisis.

He pointed out that working with the global lender would allow Sri Lanka to also seek support from other influential countries for its financial needs. The UNP Leader made these observations responding to questions posed by a youth after a discussion with a group of university students on Thursday.

Commenting further on the IMF, the former Prime Minister said: When the economy collapsed in 1977, we went to the International Monetary Fund and sought their assistance to create an open economy. It was only after that aid was received that other countries assisted.

By 1989, the war in the North and the terror in the South had caused the economy to collapse, and aid was sought from them again. The economy collapsed again in 2001 and our economic growth took a turn for the worse. 

We went back and received aid from the International Monetary Fund.

There was a similar situation in 2015. After the war the income of our country decreased. Not only that, our development depended entirely on a short term development program to spend the money given for the reconstruction in the North. In addition to spending the tsunami money on construction in the South, we received assistance from China to build highways and ports in 2013.

We actually faced the Easter Sunday bombing and had the opportunity to re-emerge. But here it has to be implemented for 10 years. After the last Presidential Election VAT was reduced, and the income of the country was reduced.

In addition, we and other countries suffered economic losses, especially due to the corona epidemic. We did not receive any foreign exchange. Our factories had to close down as well as other businesses. We received assistance from the International Monetary Fund to buy medicine, Wickremesinghe added.