- We did not vote against the IMF agreement
- Our economic program will be different
In an interview with the Sunday Observer, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Dr. Harsha de Silva said the SJB is fundamentally against codifying the IMF agreement as a law and that a future SJB Government would take steps to revise the IMF agreement. The rebuilding of the economy and the nation was a national issue and the SJB will not shy away from that responsibility, he said.
Excerpts from the interview
Q: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has agreed to release the third tranche under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) approved for Sri Lanka. What are your thoughts on this?
A: We are happy with the provision of the loan instalment. This is a national issue even though we are divided into various political parties. It is important to get out of this crisis that the country and people are facing. But we do not agree with all the things in the agreement signed by the Government with the IMF.
Q: But the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) says that there is no other way than IMF’s solutions, the world’s lender of last resort?
A: As a party, we also did not vote against the IMF. We understood the difficult situation the country was in at that time and did not oppose it in good faith. But some parties who voted against the IMF initially are now apparently going forward with the IMF and trying to mislead the public by saying that they will be negotiating with the IMF. We are happy to receive this loan instalment. But we are completely against bringing all the figures agreed by the Government with the IMF to Parliament as a law and putting them into Bills such as the Economic Transformation Bill.
Q: Do you think that we can move forward as a country with such a negative opposition?
A: All the figures that were given are wrong. We cannot knowingly agree to wrong numbers. If the agreed numbers are legalised, it will become a big problem. For example, we hope to form a Government in four months, then we hope to achieve an economic growth of 10 percent. We cannot do that with these wrong numbers.
Q: It is said that the IMF is helping to cover the Budget Deficit. But if there is a change of Government in the Presidential Election, it will affect this program, won’t it?
A: We did not oppose the IMF coming to Sri Lanka. We did not vote in favour of it in Parliament because we could not agree with everything in it. We did not vote against it because we are not completely against it. That is why we refrained from voting.
But according to the state of the country at that time, we allowed the Government to do this as it wanted, sitting on the position that we would change it when we come to power. We said that directly to the Head of the IMF Mission. Therefore, we have a moral right to make amendments with the IMF and take this forward.
Q: But this program is implemented according to an agreement between the current Government and the IMF. If the Government changes, won’t the agreement be annulled?
A: Our program is somewhat different from the program run by this Government. This is a neo-liberal program. The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) has a socialist program. We have a social market economic program. Therefore, as a Government, we should have the right to change this.
The other thing is that we agreed on the numbers you mentioned today. What happens if there is a problem that has nothing to do with us? For example, if there is a financial crisis like in 2007-2008. It is not our fault. If such a crisis comes, we have to change some things to manage it. Then we won’t be able to work on those numbers. But if they had become law, then we must have broken those laws. That is why we are against it.
Q: As the third instalment of the IMF loan is received, the people are afraid that more taxes will be imposed on them, isn’t it?
A: The Government brings the country to a certain place with numbers. The numbers show that the tax revenue has increased. The reason for that is the increase in tax percentages. When the tax percentages are increased, the tax revenue will increase to a large extent.
I do not see it as a big miracle that the numbers went up after doing that. The increase in taxes also affects the common people. The people who do not pay taxes do not pay anyway. Therefore, we cannot be happy that the tax revenue has increased.
Q: Are you saying that the country has not recovered from the previous perilous situation?
A: We do accept that some steady state has been reached. We cannot be hypocritical enough to say no. But we continue to say that the economy of the country should be developed by increasing the income in a reasonable manner. But here some progress has been made through the tax system. Our party’s program is different. We hope to form a Government after the next election. We hope to change this system under that established Government.
Q: What is your party’s plan to change that system?
A: Each Government has different plans. We will do this in good faith. Our country is still in an economic risk zone. We need to get out of that danger zone.
We are not shouting in vain saying “We do not need the IMF, we have another option”. As a populist Opposition that is accountable to the people, we say that these problems should be resolved and this program should move forward. Therefore, we have a program to change it according to the ground reality. It will not be possible to implement that program if this is brought as a law.
Q: Does that mean that a future SJB Government will definitely change those policies?
A: Yes, we will. We said that when we met the representatives led by Peter Breuer, IMF’s Sri Lanka mission head. We insist that we did not vote against the IMF.
The IMF knows very well that we as a party did not dig a hole for this Government as it reached out to the IMF when the country was in trouble. In some countries, the Opposition did not allow this program to be implemented.
People died of starvation in those countries. But we did not let that happen. Even though there were political disadvantages, we were thinking about the country at that time. Therefore, they also have a big responsibility to allow us to change it when our Government comes into power. Because this is not a problem of a single political party, it is a national problem.
Q: You keep talking about a SJB Government. How are the party’s election preparations?
A: We are ready for any election, we will definitely win.
