Leader of the JVP Anura Dissanayake emphasizes that the government should stop the tomfoolery and submit a quick proposal to the country for the economic crisis.
He was speaking at a media briefing held at the JVP head office at Pelawatta, today (1st).
He said, “Our country is currently entangled in a deep crisis. But it seems that no one is responsible for this crisis. No one takes the responsibility to provide the solutions. We know that our country and our people are facing the dire consequences of the wrong economic policies that the governments in our country have pursued for a long time. The depth of this crisis is clear from the budget and the country’s general economic performance. It is reported that more than 1000 containers of essential goods are stuck in the Port of Colombo today. There is a situation where banks do not issue dollars to release goods. The long-running oil refinery has been shut down due to a lack of dollars to import crude oil. The depth and extent of this crisis are very clear from economic data and the lives of ordinary people. I hope to emphasize what happens in the future. The current dollar deficit and the crisis it has caused are rapidly moving forward. For example, we need US$ 6 billion over the next three months. There is an instalment of US$ 351 for loans due in November and December. US$ 500 million is due for an international sovereign bond on January 18. The January loan instalment is 1.1 billion. The government had given 90 days, 180 days etc., for the letter of credit. Banks had issued letters of credit accordingly. People’s Bank has issued US$ 1.1 billion worth of letters of credit as of September 30, based on the value of letters of credit issued in respect of imported goods. Bank of Ceylon has issued US$ 1.3 billion in letters of credit as of September 30. Today those values are even higher. Accordingly, the amount of letters of credit in the two-state banks alone has exceeded US$ 2.5 billion. A large number of letters of credit have been issued through other commercial banks. In this situation, there is a vast dollar crisis regarding the payment for imported goods. For the two months of November and December alone, US$ 3.3 billion is needed to import goods. Taken together, more than US$ 6.5 billion will be needed over the next three months to import goods, repay letters of credit and repay loan instalments.
Also, the means by which the country receives dollars have collapsed. The net amount of dollars received by the country is the remittances received from foreign workers. It’s approximately US$ 7.5 billion. But over the past six months, those receipts have been declining rapidly. For example, in June 2020, we received US$ 573 million from migrant workers. In June 2021, it fell by US$ 95 million to US$ 478 million. That’s a 16% drop. Also, in July 2020, $ 702 million was received from migrant workers. This year we received only $ 453 million from them. That’s a reduction of US$ 49 million and 35%. In August last year, the country received US $ 665 million. This year it went down to US$440. That’s a US$ 218 million loss. As a percentage, it is a reduction of 32%. If we take the month of September, in 2020, the country received US $ 703 remittances. It fell to US$353 this year. It’s a decrease of US$ 350 million- 50% reduction. If you look at the month of October, last year, the country received US$631. This year it has received Rs. 317. That is a reduction of US$ 314 or a 49% reduction as a percentage. Accordingly, the amount due in November and December is expected to be less than 50%. The decline in these five months alone was US$ 1.2 billion. ($ 1226 million) The government did not have a formal programme to bring the money of migrant workers to the country. At the peak in November and December, two billion dollars will be received. Foreign Exchange Reserve has been reduced to Dollar Billion 2.2. Reports on November 26 show this. If you look at the time that has passed since then, it has decreased even further. Now the government has only enough reserves for a period of 5 1/2 weeks to import goods.
All this shows that our country is bogged down in a big dollar crisis. The result is the cessation of oil refining, a large stockpile of goods at the port, and a shortage of goods. Also, there is a high risk of loan instalment payments in the future. Many economists warn that. A US$ 500 million bond matures on January 18, and a US $ 1,000 million bond will mature in July next year. Accordingly, US$ 1500 million is required to pay the bonds alone. The government has also estimated that it will need US $ 6700 million to pay loans and interest instalments, including sovereign bonds.
All these data and information show that we are facing the biggest economic crisis. Who is responsible for this? The government has failed to discuss as a cabinet and present a solution agenda. Therefore, if you ask a cabinet minister about the current crisis, different ministers will say different things. When there is such a deep crisis, the government has to analyze it and come up with possible short-term and long-term plans. But the cabinet has not become an institution looking for a solution. Also, the President is acting without understanding the length, breadth and depth of this crisis. Decisions made by the President indicate that he has no sense of a time of crisis. His decisions are not in the direction of easing the crisis but in intensifying it. The President, even as head of state, cannot understand the nature of the crisis. The Prime Minister is not concerned. He is doing other things. The Minister of Finance has failed to present the required information to Parliament. The Governor of the Central Bank does not seem to be playing his role properly in this crisis. In this situation, in the face of the crisis, our country has become a captainless ship stranded and drifting in a storm.
We need a leader to address the crisis and take action. But our country, like a ship caught in a storm, is roaming in this crisis. These rulers have not shown any plan to rescue the country from danger. The result can be critical in the future. There is already a huge shortage of drugs in our country. There is a shortage of medicines for many diseases. Auto parts are in short supply. There is a huge shortage of essential commodities. If medicine cannot be imported, if essential food cannot be imported, what is the use of such governments? In this context, the crisis tells us that the economic policy pursued by these rulers for a long time has plunged our country into a deep economic abyss.
People have a responsibility regarding this crisis. They have not been thinking about economic factors in changing governments for a long time. Considering the last three decades, it was not economic issues that came to the fore in those national elections. If you look at the 2019 election, its priority was national security. In 2015, democracy was brought forward instead of economic issues. The decisive factor in the 2010 election was the end of the war. The decisive factor in 2005 was the war. The decisive factor in the 1999 presidential election was war. In 1994, the outcome was decided by democracy. Accordingly, from 1994 onwards, when forming a government, the people did not consider its primary responsibility for economic matters. However, the primary role of the government is economic prosperity – creating opportunities for people to live a happy life, to develop the facilities and services of the people. But in previous elections, the people did not care about it. However, the people’s opposition and criticism regarding this government are based on the economic crisis. The root of the economic crisis facing this country lies in the economic policies pursued. Therefore, we urge the people to come forward to change this regime and this economic system as these policies that have been pursued for a long time have plunged the country into a deep abyss. The country’s people must come forward to achieve economic prosperity to live a more prosperous life. These rulers are not the ones who can solve the crisis. All they can do is intensify it. But they are not the ones suffering from this crisis, nor are their relatives, not even their children, not even the infamous bureaucracy around them or not even the handful of rogue dealers. However, it is the common people who have been affected by this crisis, young men looking for jobs, the peasantry engaged in farming, the fisherman in the fishing industry, people who do a small job and earn a meagre amount per month are the victims of this crisis.
Therefore, the citizens of this country have a responsibility to transform this country into a scientific, new economic strategy that can build this country. We as a people should strive to learn from experience. If they fail to learn from experience, they become mere events and are overshadowed by the sands of time. Therefore, we urge the people to understand the deepest economic crisis facing this country today.
You come forward to transform this country. We also challenge the President, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance and the Cabinet to state the length and breadth of this crisis. We ask them to express the depth of the crisis to the country as well as their vision and programme to overcome the crisis. We demand the government to stop the tomfoolery and submit a quick proposal to the country for the economic crisis. The government should submit a quick proposal to the country for this crisis. If not, the country will be in big danger in another two or three months. According to some media reports, there will be a shortage of coal by January. Currently ordered and contracted oil is only enough for two months. The government should present its detailed vision to the country regarding this crisis.”
