COLOMBO, Aug 29: Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Thursday offered the continuation of his economic recovery path with the cash-strapped island nation’s international partners as the cornerstone of his election manifesto for the presidential election scheduled for next month.
The 75-year-old incumbent president is in the fray for reelection in the September 21 polls to continue the recovery programme with his legacy of ending miles-long queues for essentials and guaranteeing livelihoods in a painful reform process.
“We must operate within the framework of these agreements,” Wickremesinghe, also the finance minister, said, referring to the economic bail-out agreement with the International Monetary Fund, the official creditor committee comprising 17 countries, China, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
Sri Lanka’s bankrupt economy has recorded positive growth under Wickremesinghe’s leadership after the island nation reported six quarters of negative growth following the unprecedented economic crisis caused by massive forex shortages in 2022.
The public protests due to shortages of essentials, power and cooking gas led to the ouster of Wickremesinghe’s predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa who resigned following mass protests in 2022.
The IMF-led reform programme has made the president unpopular, resulting in the lead of other front runners — the main opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and the Marxist leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake — in unofficial polls.
His rivals have pledged to revise the IMF programme to provide more relief from rigid reforms.
”Now is the time for action, not just for discussion. We should avoid debating new policies or engaging in protracted negotiations with the IMF over new policies. Should we forget the hardships faced by people?” Wickremesinghe asked.
In his manifesto, released on Thursday, Premadasa said: “We will strengthen fiscal discipline as per the IMF agreement and continue with difficult but necessary reforms to meet the targets of revenue, primary balance and debt. However, we will amend the current programme to guarantee relief to those below the poverty line and improve the quality of life for Sri Lankans.” (PTI)
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