Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s special statement addressing the nation commenced, a short while ago.
He stated that last Thursday, he had accepted the Premiership of Sri Lanka.
“I did not ask for that position. In the face of the crisis situation in the country, the President invited me to accept this position,” he said.
At this moment, Sri Lanka’s economy is at a very dangerous position, the PM said.
He said that although the last Budget (2022) had forecasted government revenue of Rs. 2,300 billion for 2022, the actual revenue is now Rs. 1,600 billion.
He said government expenditure for the rest of the year is Rs. 3,300 billion, however due to several reasons and extra expenditure it has climbed to Rs. 4,000 billion.
The PM said that the budget deficit is Rs. 2,300 billion or 13% of the GDP.
He added that a decision was taken by the Cabinet of Ministers yesterday to table a proposal in parliament to increase the approved issuance limit of treasury bills from 3,000 billion to 4,000 billion.
He said Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange reserves were USD 7.5 billion in November 2019, however today the treasury is unable to find even one million US dollars.
The Prime Minister said that a relief-based budget will be presented for this year again instead of the development budget already presented.
Wickremesinghe also stated that he proposes to privatize the loss-making national carrier, SriLankan Airlines in order to overcome its losses.
The PM further said that he is reluctantly compelled to print money to pay wages of the public sector.
He added that the government will look into purchasing foreign currency from the open market to pay for three fuel shipments.
lkThe Premier also called for the forming of a National Council or a Political Council with the participation of all parties in order to address and over the crisis situation in the country.
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