- Friday, April 26, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
SRI LANKAN prime minister Ranil Wickremasinghe on Tuesday (5) told the country’s parliament that Colombo will organise a donor conference of friendly nations such as India, China and Japan once a staff-level deal is made with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a bailout package, as the island-nation ravaged by economic crisis seeks to create an aid consortium.
Addressing the parliament on the government’s roadmap to tackle the economic crisis, Wickremasinghe said India to limit its loan assistance to Sri Lanka because of the recent global crises, including the ongoing war in Ukraine.
“After obtaining the staff-level agreement, we will organise a donor-aid conference by bringing together the friendly countries that provide us with loan assistance, such as India, China and Japan. We hope to create a system where we can get loan assistance through a common agreement,” the veteran leader said.
Among the problems the Lankans are facing today, the primary issue is the fuel crisis, he said.
“At the same time, we are also facing the problem of food availability. In terms of fuel and food, our country was going to have to face this crisis at some point in time. Fuel was scarce. Food prices went up,” he added.
“Due to the recent global crises, this situation has become more acute and we who were in the frying pan fell into the oven…This situation is not unique to us. This affects other countries as well. India and Indonesia are also affected by this global crisis. Therefore, India has had to limit the loan assistance that they have given to us,” he added.
India’s unprecedented economic, financial and humanitarian assistance to the people of Sri Lanka stands at over $3.5 billion (£2.9 billion) in 2022.
India has also extended three credit lines to the tune of more than $1.5 billion (£1.25 billion) and forex support of around $2 billion (£1.67 billion), according to the Indian High Commission in Colombo. India has also supplied medicines to several health-related establishments in various parts of Sri Lanka and distributed kerosene among the country’s fishermen.
Sri Lanka’s total debt burden increased to Rs 21.6 trillion (£50.3 billion) by March 2022, Wickremesinghe said. The prime minister said the total debt burden of the Sri Lankan government at the end of 2021 was Rs 17.5 trillion (£40.8 billion) and by March 2022 it has increased to Rs 21.6 trillion.
Colombo will present a debt restructuring programme to the IMF by August to secure a bailout package, he said.
Sri Lanka is experiencing the worst economic crisis since its independence from Britain in 1948, and needs at least $4 billion (£3.3 billion) to tide over the acute shortage in its foreign exchange reserves.
[With agency inputs]
