Finance Minister says Sri Lanka will not default on debt repayment
Sri Lanka would not be defaulting on its debt repayment,
Minister of Finance Basil Rajapaksa told reporters on Saturday (Nov, 13),
addressing a special media briefing convened by the Finance Ministry.
During the press conference, he addressed an array of
questions on the budget proposals tabled in Parliament the day before.
With regard to the country’s foreign reserves crisis and
debt servicing, the lawmaker said various solutions including the halt of
vehicle imports but these have failed to yield a clear solution.
“We think that this issue will persist next year as well,
but we expect to resolve this issue without obtaining loans.”
Sri Lanka has to pay USD 500 million in debt in January and
USD 1 billion in July next year, according to the finance minister who assured
that the island nation would definitely meet both payments.
“By 2027, the country expects to have foreign reserves of
USD 10 billion of the country’s own money. From next year, we expect to
contribute USD 1 billion of our own money annually towards forex reserves. So,
for the first time by 2024, we will be able to take the external budget into
positive territory after many years.”
Further, the finance minister said the state sector service
has become bloated to the point that the country cannot sustain it anymore.
“I think we don’t need to appease them [public servants]
with sweets any further,” the finance minister said adding that the government
is not in a position to allocate more public funds for the state service for
another year.
One of the chief accusations levelled by the Opposition is
the lack of price reduction of goods via Budget 2022, which was tabled in
parliament on Friday.
In response, the finance minister said, “There are no
short-term solutions. This government and other governments in the world got
into difficulty by attempting to do so.”
The only solution is to increase the production, he added.
“Amid the existing COVID pandemic, I don’t think the price imported goods will
come down within the next year.”
When asked of the relief measures for the tourism sector,
the finance minister gave an honest answer: “More than enough relief measures
have been given to the people in this sector. The biggest relief the tourism
sector can be given is making the country safe by vaccination, so tourists can
visit without fear.”
Minister Rajapaksa stated that the government is doing
everything it can to ensure that. “As the finance minister, I say that the tax
from the tourism sector goes to the tourist board and not to the government.
The government gets income tax from all other sectors, but they independently
collect the revenue and spent it.”
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