Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake yesterday blamed former President Mahinda Rajapaksa for mismanagement of the economy adding that the debt burden caused by the previous regime would have to be borne by the taxpayers.

Noting that the former President had made adverse comments on the current status of the economy, he said the present Government has to nurture a child that he gave birth for.

He made these remarks at a press briefing held at Sirikotha yesterday.

Citing a few examples Karunanayake asserted that SriLankan Airlines was a well performing company until the Government took over it again on 1 April 2009 and politicised it to incur huge losses of upto Rs.158 billion during the past seven years.

“During its operations under Emirates the airline had total reserves worth Rs.9.2 billion, shareholders had reserves worth Rs.15 billion, while the total liabilities stood at Rs.480 million. However, during the past seven years the positive reserves had turned to negative Rs.74.8 billion, while the total liabilities has increased to Rs.48.9 billion,” he revealed.

The Minister pointed out that if the Government had to close down the airline tomorrow it would have to be borne by taxpayers of the country. 

Further he said during the last Presidential election Mahinda Rajapaksa in his capacity as the Finance Minister had issued a directive to sell imported rice incurring a loss of around Rs. 8,000 billion. 

“To gain votes, they have imported 235,000 tons of rice from Bangladesh at Rs.75 and have issued a directive on 1 January 2015 to sell at Rs.45 for wholesale incurring a 40% loss in pricing itself,” he explained.

He noted that these funds could have been allocated for the development of Lak Sathosa instead.

Commenting on the fertiliser subsidy Karunanayake said the Government had resolved issues in the areas of paddy, tea and rubber adding that they have now allocated Rs.5 billion for fertiliser on other vegetables. 

“Although we allocated these funds, we did not publicise it categorically for other vegetables,” he said.