LankaWeb Editorial

14th April 2022

Resolving  the ongoing crisis in Sri Lanka has now become the greatest challenge for the Rajapaksa Administration.

It is noteworthy to observe that Sri Lanka will be unable to make a USD 200 million loan repayment next week as the government decide to suspend all external debt repayments. This will place further pressure on the banking sector as a former national leader has observed which by itself is a true observation which lends credibility to the importance of quick remedial action needed to steer the teetering ship of Sri Lanka before it either sinks into oblivion or continues to flounder in a sea of uncertainty much to the chagrin of her beleaguered and restless population.

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 That the government has announced that the country is presently bankrupt seems an understatement where the responsibility is now in the hands of the new Finance Minister to discuss the prevailing situation with the International Monetary Fund during the talks scheduled for next week in Washington DC.

By mid-May, the Indian Line of Credit will be over and by June, private businesses will be unable to operate due to a lack of foreign exchange which is a harbinger of impending escalation of the present crisis where post haste remedial action now becomes imperative where government must now take full responsibility for the bankruptcy of the country and the restoration to a normal order which will placate unrest and ease tensions within the agitated population of Sri Lanka.

Realistically all  political parties need to be involved in this without any conditions where elections or constitutional amendments at this point will not solve the crisis in the country After discussions are held with the Government and all parties and a plan is formulated, conditions can be laid down towards the restoration of a once flourishing nation now in the throes of desperation. It is also the responsibility of the leadership to give everyone an equal hearing of the intended plan of action. In Lebanon for instance – the IMF agreement was reliant on it being tabled in Parliament for their approval. This must happen in Sri Lanka as well.”

Towards overcoming the crisis a national effort is surely needed to do so where despite a difficult period, fruition will follow if a plan is adhered to where the crisis could be surely overcome, so there probably is no need for the Nation to panic overly if they were to compare a similar situation where the former crisis in Lebanon  was resolved through help from the International Monetary Fund(IMF) and the direction which  Sri Lanka now needs to take.Other Nations like Argentina and Zimbabwe as examples too have faced similar crises  of a dire nature which they too have gainfully overcome.

The groundwork for this is already being laid.The New Finance Minister and the other responsible sources such as leaders of the Central Bank responsible for the financal needs of Sri Lanka have implemented a plan of action which sounds credible where hopefully tensions within the nation will ease.

Aspirations towards a better Sri Lanka as the Sinhala and Tamil New Year approaches where an anxious population awaits an auspicious and blessed outcome which now positively rests in the hands of her Administrators.