IMF only option available to Sri Lanka to overcome economic crisis, says Wickremesinghe

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe said the IMF had assigned Sri Lanka 15 tasks to complete

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe on February 21 emphasised that seeking the IMF bailout package was the only option available to the debt-ridden country to overcome the ongoing economic crisis.

"When a country goes bankrupt, it has to go to the International Monetary Fund. Apart from that, there is no other organisation in the world that provides aid when a country goes bankrupt," Mr. Wickremesinghe said.

Addressing a gathering in the central town of Kandy, he said that each nation that experienced an economic catastrophe recovered after engaging in talks with the IMF and cited the example of Greece which took 13 years to recover from the collapsed economy.

"I have no hope of being President for 13 years," Mr. Wickremesinghe said, amidst opposition to his hard economic reforms which had triggered utility rate hikes and increased personal taxes.

“There is only one way to rebuild this collapsed economy. That is the International Monetary Fund. Different political parties are presenting different stories. I suggested to them to let me know if there is another way to resurrect the collapsed economy.”

"The IMF indicates that our tax revenue should be 15 per cent of the GDP as it was in 2019. So far it has gone down to 09 per cent," he added.

He said the IMF had assigned Sri Lanka 15 tasks to complete.