The Hon. Sajith Premadasa - Leader of the Opposition

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, during the 2024 Presidential Election, the “A Rich Country – A Beautiful Life” policy statement promised to ease the burden imposed on the people by the previous Government while following a sustainable debt agreement with the IMF. The people, trusting that, gave a mandate to reach more favourable terms with the IMF. Whether the Government is using that mandate properly is now in question. There is a stark contradiction between the mandate and current actions.

¶ 02 Accordingly, I pose the following questions seeking specific and clear answers:

¶ 03 1. What is the total amount of debt payable to bilateral creditors and international private creditors?

¶ 04 2. From the first year of resuming payments, what is the annual debt service each year, in US dollars?

¶ 05 3. What macroeconomic targets to be achieved as a country are required to implement these debt payments successfully—e.g., growth rate, foreign reserves, FDI targets, etc.?

¶ 06 4. Does the Government accept that it received a public mandate to reach a new debt sustainability agreement with the IMF as stated in the “A Rich Country – A Beautiful Life” manifesto? If not, is the failure to reach such a new agreement a betrayal of the people’s mandate?

¶ 07 We all spoke of the harm done to EPF and ETF through domestic debt restructuring—cuts to working people’s funds while protecting the funds of the super-rich and primary dealers. Is this deeply unfair domestic restructuring being implemented due to IMF agreement terms?

¶ 08 5. Under the IMF Extended Fund Facility (EFF), what are the specific conditions to be met for disbursements? How many tranches are there and what are the amounts of each tranche?

¶ 09 6. Electricity tariffs are to be increased by 18 per cent. Is this to meet a condition for the next EFF tranche? You promised a 33 per cent reduction—Rs. 9,000 bills to Rs. 6,000; Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 2,000. Now we hear water tariffs will also increase. Are these due to IMF conditionalities?

¶ 10 7. Does the Government accept that securing more concessional terms than the current IMF arrangement, to reduce the burden on the public, is its responsibility?

¶ 11 Thank you, Hon. Speaker.