Sri Lanka govt accuses opposition of trying to undermine IMF bailout programme

It has suffered major splits since the economic crisis.Sri Lanka was hit by an unprecedented financial crisis in 2022, the worst since its independence from Britain in 1948, due to a severe paucity of foreign exchange reserves, sparking political turmoil in the country which led to the ouster of the all-powerful Rajapaksa family.

Sri Lankan government on Thursday accused the opposition of trying to undermine the crucial IMF bailout by holding a meeting with Colombo-based top diplomats of a dozen countries, including India and the US, and seeking their help in getting the global lender to impose tougher conditions for the package.

The accusation came days after the International Monetary Fund approved a USD 2.9 billion bailout programme to help the debt-ridden country overcome its economic crisis and catalyse financial support from other development partners.

Speaking in parliament, Chief Government Whip and Minister of Urban Development Prasanna Ranatunga claimed that the opposition at a secret meeting with foreign diplomats called for stringent conditions to be applied when the IMF starts releasing the disbursements.

''The opposition has asked the countries to delay the IMF facility or put stringent conditions,'' he said. ''Don’t do this at a time when people are out on the streets.'' The main opposition - the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) - defended the meeting with the diplomats, saying they met to inform them about the government's action to postpone the local council elections.

Main opposition leader Sajith Premadasa denied that it was the intention of the opposition to use internal matters to curtail the assistance needed by the country.

According to local media reports, India's Deputy High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Vinod Jacob, US Ambassador in Sri Lanka Julie J Chung and British High Commissioner Sarah Hulton were among those present in the meeting which discussed the current state of affairs in the island nation.

Sri Lanka's election commission earlier this month announced April 25 as the new date for the local elections. The local body polls for 340 councils scheduled for March 9 were postponed due to a plethora of reasons linked to the current economic crisis.

The election to appoint new administrations to 340 local councils for a four-year term has been postponed since March last year due to the ongoing economic crisis.

The SJB alleged that President Ranil Wickremesinghe was bearing pressure as the minister of finance to block the money required for the poll as he feared losing the poll.

The ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna won the majority of councils in the last election held in 2018. It has suffered major splits since the economic crisis.

Sri Lanka was hit by an unprecedented financial crisis in 2022, the worst since its independence from Britain in 1948, due to a severe paucity of foreign exchange reserves, sparking political turmoil in the country which led to the ouster of the all-powerful Rajapaksa family.