RANJITH SOYSA

Your Excellency the President Ranil Wickramasinghe.
Hon Dinesh Gunawardane- Prime Minister,
Hon Mahinda Rajapaksa – the Former President,

IMF RECIPE AND SRI LANKA’S FUNDS PARKED ABROAD.

All of you are shouldering the unenviable task of attending to the stabilization of the economy and we constantly hear of structural readjustment of the of the debt and the need

 to increase the tax receipts etc, We, hear that more revenue is needed to meet the deficit. The Treasury Secretary said that ” the Government revenue has dipped from 22% to 8% 

against the GDP while State expenses have gone up to 19%. He said, most of the government revenue must be reinvested to keep SOE’s that are in Red and pay public servants who are 

employed in most of them. By divesting some of these SOE’s Sri Lanka can save huge amounts of ‘money’ that are channelled towards the upkeep of SOEs and they could be used for

 other infrastructure projects and provide better facilities for health education and other key areas.”

While we are attempting to sell even strategically important SOE’s such as Telecom, the Ports etc to solve the acute issue of deficit, the Minister of Justice provided a solution which 

if pursued. he said that “it will be possible to settle all debts which Sri Lanka owes to other nations” He mentioned the necessity of compelling the VIPs who have parked abroad 

US $ 56 billion, including US $ 9 billion in 2023!

An average Sri Lankan who is striving hard to make the ends meet and fighting heavy odds to keep the head above the water is expecting an answer from you why the

export earnings and other remittances legally due to the country are allowed to be parked or invested overseas by a few business institutions and persons.

As a matter of extreme urgency, legislation should be approved or judiciary should be activated to give firm notice to the errant organizations and the personnel to bring back to the 

country what is due, within a reasonable period.

While perusing rational solutions to create a balanced economy the consumption of luxury and semi luxury goods must be restricted while supporting local production and

Import substitution. The nation cannot forget that nearly 12.5% of its population is living in extreme poverty. Any further burden on this segment of the population by way of increased 

cost of essential goods and services will only create social upheaval. The profit making and strategic Government managed organizations should not be sold as it is like selling the

 family silver forcing the nation to keep on begging forever rather than utilizing these resources for effective national development, 

I only hope that the pursuing ones responsible for diverting the foreign funds of Sri Lanka even as an essential measure will not clash with the IMF model which insists on.

stability” at any cost.

RANJITH SOYSA