Political sources say that the latest report released by the International Monetary Fund on Sri Lanka will be the basis for discussions on the forthcoming national government.
Sources said that this was not based solely on whether or not to go for a program with the International Monetary Fund, but on the basis of reaching an agreement on the steps to be taken in line with the findings and recommendations of the report.
The nature of the current economic crisis, especially in Sri Lanka, has necessitated drastic economic reforms. Many leading parties in the government, as well as the opposition, have already publicly stated that they want to go on a program with the IMF. But in practice, in order to implement such drastic economic reforms in a country, it is imperative that a political consensus be reached within that country without party affiliation.
President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is convening an all-party conference in line with this basic need. The Leader of the United National Party Ranil Wickremesinghe requested in Parliament yesterday (09) that the IMF report be handed over to the party leaders before the All Party Conference.
The future of the country will depend on the extent to which the political parties realize that the crisis itself has created a situation in which all political parties have to come to an agreement to face this economic crisis as a country instead of fighting on the streets for power or seizure of power.
Going beyond the long-standing anti-IMF protests in our country, this IMF report needs to be seriously discussed as it has been prepared by world-class economic analysts on the situation we face as a country, and they make their recommendations with experience from other countries around the world.
