A day or two ago, a former finance chief telephoning the President has asked him whether he had instructed the debt to be defaulted. In response, President Rajapaksa told him not to worry for it was only a ‘soft default’.
“Who told you it was a soft default, sir?” the former finance chief questioned, to which the President responded, “Central Bank Governor Dr. Nandalal told us not to worry because it was only a soft default. Even I am aware of it.“
The former finance chief explained: “Sir, default has no appearance as soft or hard. A default is a default. We’re now suffering the consequences of it even after two months, aren’t we?“
Sources on the condition of anonymity told LNW that MP Harsha De Silva had told a similar story to his party Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) on the debt default situation, ascertaining that it was ‘good’ to let debt be defaulted at this moment, for any move otherwise could have led the country into what he described as a ‘super default.’
Dr. Silva was the sole Opposition MP who had appreciated the CBSL Chief for defaulting the forex debt.
Now the Opposition economist too is in a frenzy and we have previously challenged him to deliver any explanation on how exactly this debt default was accurate at the time in which it was committed. We are more than happy to provide our space for his explanation.
If truth be told, informants of the field of economics are of the strong view that it had been in the realm of possibility to manage the situation by settling the debt by July without delay, whilst reaching an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a step further.
Conclusively, the CBSL Chief has fooled the President, while Silva, the Opposition. The country is devastated as usual.