Sri Lanka President Wickremesinghe slams political efforts to scuttle local debt restructuring

Colombo, Aug 4 (PTI) Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Friday slammed what he termed as "efforts" by smaller political groups to derail the domestic debt restructuring (DDR) through court orders.
     The government in late June got parliamentary approval for the DDR as part of its efforts to tide over the worst-ever economic crisis.
     “We got parliamentary approval for local debt restructuring. Some of the opposition groups opposed it. Some didn’t come to vote in parliament," Wickremesinghe said addressing a gathering.
     “Now some groups try to sabotage this by using the court. If this programme came to a halt the foreign governments will stop working with us. There will be fuel queues again in the country and the farmers will be left without fertiliser," the president said, underscoring the importance of the debt restructuring programme.
     He said the government would only be dictated by the Parliament.
     “All fiscal matters are handled by the parliament, only the parliament can decide on these issues," he added.
     Wickremesinghe’s remarks were an apparent reference to the opposition JVP (Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna or 'People's Liberation Front') which late in June filed a fundamental rights petition in the Supreme Court seeking an order to prevent the DDR measures being applied to pension funds.
     Citing 46 respondents, the JVP sought an order that would prevent the curtailment of loans obtained by the government from the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) and Employees’ Trust Fund (ETF) under the DDR.
     The JVP claimed the EPF and ETF funds would take a hit from the DDR, hurting employee savings.
     Sri Lanka has to finalise its external and domestic debt restructuring by September when the International Monetary Fund (IMF) carries out its first review of the USD 2.9 billion bailout granted in March this year.
     Sri Lanka was hit by its worst economic crisis in history when the country's foreign exchange reserves fell to a critical low and the public came out on the streets to protest the fuel, fertilisers as well as essential commodities shortage.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)