CP puts record straight on creditors who will hold country to ransom

By Rathindra Kuruwita

Instead of coming up with a national plan to solve the current crisis with the support of all parties, the government had put all eggs in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) basket, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Sri Lanka (CPSL) and Secretary of the Uttara Lanka Sabagaya (ULS), Dr. G. Weerasinghe said.Certain forces that controlled the present administration wanted all power concentrated in a few people. This is why they oppose any national plan,which would distribute power among a relatively large number of people, Weerasinghe said.

“If we look at our foreign debt, most of it is owned by commercial lenders. We don’t even know how many such lenders there are; who they are and whether they are willing to make compromises,” Weerasinghe said.The only obvious thing about these commercial creditors was that most of them were European or US companies, he said.

“Dealing with these entities will be hard. Unlike a country or an international institution, these commercial creditors only care about making profits. Will they be willing to take a haircut? We need to have an open discussion with all stakeholders in Sri Lanka and come up with a plan,” the CPSL General Secretary said.

The Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Ranil Wickremesinghe governments have taken a number of steps that are in alignment with the IMF ideology, he said, adding that this involves floating the rupee and changing the prices of fuel, electricity, etc., to reflect the so-called market prices.

“The government also talks about restructuring state owned enterprises. They say there are too many people. Who gave jobs to all these people and what are the consequences of a large number of people losing jobs during a crisis like this? This is not mathematics, we are dealing with people,” he said.

Weerasinghe also said that certain sections of the media, political class and academia are spreading misinformation about Sri Lanka’s traditional allies, like China.

“There is a lot of talk about a Chinese debt trap. International and local intellectuals have proven that there is no such thing. However, due to political reasons some people insist that we are in trouble because of Chinese loans. By making people believe in these lies, they are making it harder for any future government to rationally work with China. This is the height of irresponsibility,” he said.