President Ranil Wickramasinghe said that necessary steps will be taken to pass the best anti-corruption law in the Sri Lankan Parliament as soon as possible in South Asia.
The President informed that the cabinet approval for the said bill has already been given and said that he will discuss it with the opposition party representatives and submit it to the Parliament in the future.
President Ranil Wickramasinghe mentioned this while participating in a discussion held yesterday (23) with the heads of media companies at the President’s office.
Debt restructuring
Ranil Wickramasinghe who further commented there, I would like to express my gratitude to all the media friends who participated in this event.
I have asked you to attend this event to inform you about the agreement reached with the International Monetary Fund.
A year ago we became a vanguard nation. This is the first time we have had to restructure our debt with the support of the International Monetary Fund and our lenders. This is just the beginning.
After receiving the financial guarantee regarding International Monetary Fund support, our country will not be considered as a bankrupt country. Now we have to move on to the next step.
That means negotiating with all multilateral lenders and bilateral lenders.
Negotiating with private lenders is very difficult. But we must not look back and move forward with confidence so this is not the end. On the one hand, this is just the beginning.
The next step is to discuss with the lenders. At the same time as negotiating with lenders, we also have a four-year plan. That is why I requested that this agreement should be approved in the National Parliament.
I don’t want to do it legally. But voting for this agreement in Parliament makes us stronger. People have already voted for it.
International Monetary Fund Agreement
Creditors must demonstrate that the country has accepted the IMF’s policy as contained in this agreement.
So first, it’s a debt restructuring, but not just a debt restructuring, we have to make it our economic restructuring.
First, we have financial stability. We should increase our income through this process. These are very difficult times and we need to stabilize government spending.
Because it describes the nature of government expenditure and the income we receive. This ensures a surplus in the primary budget and helps increase revenue.
We aim to better control the government budget. But it ensures us a primary budget surplus and an increase in income.
We must remember that the structural reforms we undertake will help us achieve economic growth. We will continue to be more liberal. There are those who think that liberalism is not a good word and that we are opening it up to foreign investment.
We are also looking for additional foreign investment in various investment sectors and manufacturing sector. That means we have to keep going.
Will Sri Lanka become an upper middle income country?
Responding to a question raised by a journalist as to how long it will take to pay off this debt for a plan to become a middle-income country in 10 years, the President said that the first task is to ratify this agreement and then restructure the debt and then we can know the method of repayment of the debt.
Secondly, the agriculture and fishing industry needs to be modernized. Thirdly, efforts should be made to make Sri Lanka a regional distribution hub.
Tourism sector, digital economy, green economy should definitely be improved and expanded. Through that we can build a new Sri Lanka.
My aim is to make Sri Lanka an upper middle income country in another 25 years ie by 2048. We cannot move forward with a stagnant economy.
It should be remembered that all the problems that happened in our country are related to this issue. Similar to the unemployment problem in 1971, in 1983 not only the language but also the unemployment of the Tamil youth arose. That is what happened in 1989. We had a lot of problems. Economic underdevelopment and instability led to bloodshed. Now is an opportunity to start fresh. It is a historical process. Looking forward to your support for it.
Journalists have the opportunity to speak with officials at any time to learn about the process of the International Monetary Fund. But we must not forget that the future of Sri Lanka is determined by whether we carry out this agreement or not.
If not, future generations will curse us. Therefore, I am asking for your support to make these long-term changes in our economy to make life easier for everyone” – he said.