State President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said in his address to the nation tonight that he was committed to taking tough decisions.
He added in his speech:
With the permission of the Most Venerable Maha Sangam, other religious leaders, mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters, dear children and friends
I address you today at a challenging time. I am well aware of the shortage and rising cost of essential items for your daily life. I am well aware of issues like gas shortage as well as fuel shortage and power outage.
I am also well aware of the many hardships that the public has experienced over the past two months. Even if we do everything we can for it, I know this situation will continue for reasons beyond our control.
I am responsible for what I do. Today I am determined to make tough decisions to address a few complex lifestyles that the public enjoys. I appointed the National Economic Council to assist and a consultative committee to co-operate. Through this, I will continue to monitor and take action to ensure that the decisions I make are implemented.
Therefore, I first ask you to have faith in the activities I undertake for the people. I am someone who is well aware of people’s difficulties. I was able to better understand and properly manage all the difficulties faced by the veterans who were at the forefront of the war on terror and the innocent civilians caught up in the war that we faced.
Today’s dilemma is not something our country faces alone. The whole world is affected by some kind of complex situation.
The increased shipping costs, the rising cost of goods and the shortage of certain goods are all beyond our control due to the Covid epidemic. Yet we stand by the people and follow relief practices. This crisis was never created by me.
As those who were responsible for creating this crisis back then are criticizing the government in the presence of the people today, I will try to resolve this crisis as soon as possible and provide relief to the people.
In such a crisis situation, it is the responsibility of the politicians and intellectuals of a country to work together to solve problems. The root cause of today’s problems is our foreign exchange crisis. Expected export earnings this year are $ 12 billion, as it was before the rupee was allowed to operate flexibly. According to data from the last two months, we have to bear the cost of imports of $ 22 billion this year. Accordingly, a trade deficit of US $ 10 billion will be created.
According to the latest data, about $ 03 billion will be available this year from tourism as well as service exports such as information technology, and $ 02 billion from the transfer of foreign workers.
Accordingly, the trade deficit will be $ 05 billion. Meanwhile, $ 6.9 billion in debt repayments and sovereign bonds are due this year. Then there will be a deficit of $ 11.9 billion. Other loans and investments are expected to reach $ 2.5 billion.
In this category, there is a total deficit of $ 9.4 billion in foreign exchange. But after the rupee’s flexibility, export earnings are expected to increase to $ 13 billion.
It can also reduce the cost of imports from $ 22 billion to $ 20 billion. If so, the trade deficit could be reduced to $ 07 billion. That is what we should aim for. Similarly, $ 04 billion could be expected from service exports and $ 05 billion from the transfer of foreign workers.
Accordingly, our trade deficit is $ 2.4 billion. We must work to address this shortfall and increase our foreign exchange reserves. To this end, we have begun discussions with international financial institutions and allied countries on repaying our loan installments.
The Government is in discussions with various parties to implement this through a new mechanism to benefit our country. Yesterday’s discussion with the International Monetary Fund also took place with this in mind. What we expect from that discussion is to develop a mechanism for paying the debts and sovereign bonds that we owe for a year.
After my discussions with the International Monetary Fund, I decided to explore the pros and cons and work with them.
Some of the decisions I have made in the past have been able to greatly control the cost of imports. Two years ago, we stopped importing vehicles because we anticipated this problem. In addition, we promoted industries that meet our needs locally.
Similarly, we stopped importing many non-essential food items and took steps to cultivate those crops in our country. We now see their successful results. The most serious problem we face in controlling the cost of imports is the rapid rise in oil prices in the world market.
On average, more than 20 percent of our import bill is spent on fuel imports. In the last few months alone, the price of fuel on the world market has doubled. This is why the increase in fuel prices in our country is inevitable.
In our country, fuel is widely used not only for vehicles but also for electricity generation. That is why I continue to consult and encourage companies to use renewable energy sources as much as possible.
So by controlling the use of fuel and electricity as much as possible the people can also cooperate with the country at this time. I hope you understand and act on that responsibility during this difficult time.
The tourism industry, which had collapsed due to the Kovit epidemic, is on the rise again. It can be observed that the number of tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka has increased significantly in the last two months. Similarly, as the government speeds up infrastructure in the information technology and telecommunications sectors, the country’s revenue from these sectors is increasing.
We are a nation that has fallen and risen many times in history. We have faced and recovered from foreign invasions, famines, natural disasters, and terrorist threats. The way we dealt with the last corona epidemic has also been praised by international organizations.
We all need to understand that there will be some time difficulties when implementing solutions. Therefore, I urge all of you to unite as one nation to recover from this crisis without losing courage. You asked me for security, discipline, a modern developed country, and a better education for children.
Almost two and a half years of my tenure have been dedicated to protecting you and your children from infection. I will dedicate my future tenure in a healthy motherland to those basic goals.
I urge the Cabinet, Parliament and civil servants to work together as a team with ambition and sacrifice to achieve the goals set for us in order to provide a better country for our children.
I came to politics at your invitation. You have so much faith in me. I will not act in a way that affects that trust and will defend it with commitment.
Blessings of the Trinity to all of you