SRI LANKA’S FINANCE MINISTER PLANS FOR DISASTER
• The Minister of Finance has no appetite to resolve the current ‘dollar’ crisis.
• All of Sri Lanka’s economic challenges are linked to the ‘dollar crisis’
• The Finance Minister’s plan is to borrow money from his friends.
• The Minister of Finance has no future cash flow planning for the country.
• Further, the Minister delays all matters related to dollar earnings, borrowings, bridging finance, available credit lines and essential goods credit lines.
As the country is grappling with its worst economic crisis to date, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in his capacity as the Finance Minister is only planning for disaster, alleged Investment Promotion Minister Dhammika Perera.
Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister spoke to international media and stated that tourists should not visit Sri Lanka during this period, leading to a potential collapse in the Tourism Sector as the island will be deprived of receiving any tourism receipts, the ex Business Mogul emphasised.
While the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) is formulating plans to attract additional revenues from expatriate remittances, the Finance Minister goes on speaking to international channels that the USD will move up to Rs. 450, further dropping the influx of foreign remittances, Perera alleged.
The Finance Minister’s fortnight update on the current crisis sends out a signal for the rich to migrate aboard with their money, the Investment Promotion Minister went on, adding that if so, this dollar crisis will continue. At present, 200 families are leaving the country on a monthly basis and given an estimation that half a million dollars are taken by one family, there is an outflow of USD 100 million per month, he pointed out.
Inflation in Sri Lanka has never been this high, but the Finance Minister goes on making comments about slashing the current inflation without demonstrating a plan to do so, he alleged.
The skyrocketing interest rates have severely impacted negatively on the survival of Small and Medium Scale Entrepreneurs and other industries responding to the situation, while the Finance Minister goes haywire on backing his claim to slash the interest rates either, Perera noted.
The ex Business Magnet further emphasised that Wickremesoinghe wishes the exchange rate to be stabilised, however with no demonstration on how it should be, adding that the same flaw follows in his vague promise to getting the GDP ratio, which is currently at 140 per cent against Sri Lankan debt, to 95 per cent.
The Minister also publicly stated that Sri Lankans will only have two meals a day, but such claims could influence the rich to stockpile goods, further escalating the coming of a food crisis towards the island’s direction, Perera alleged.
Under these circumstances, the Finance Minister should immediately resign from his position, he added.
MIAP
