July 31, 2009 07:09 pm

The government which earlier emphatically stated that it will not yield to any IMF conditions, finally, in desperation has surrendered and agreed to all the 12 conditions imposed by the IMF, says UNP Parliamentarian Ravi Karunanayake.

Some of the conditions are impractical, yet the government which is in dire financial muddle had no choice. It is like a bad businessman who, having bungled all the ventures, robs Peter to pay Paul. In this case, it is forced to ‘rob’ people to pay all its debt burdens, said Mr. Karunanayake while addressing a media briefing at the UNP media unit today (July 31).

“The government is the architect of this economic impasse. But the sorry picture is, it is the people who have to carry the government’s burdens. When it incurs extra expenditure by adding two more Ministers to its already oversized Cabinet of 110 Ministers, it has to pickpocket the people to meet those expenses”, he added.

The government has to cover up the monumental blunders and expenses of its white elephants like the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC), just to name two. The CEB records a loss of Rs. 70,000 million while the CPC loses Rs. 35,000 million. One of the conditions of the IMF loan is for the government to somehow wipe out these losses. How is the government, which could not do this for so long, accomplish it now, he asked.

The only method available for the government is to heap more burdens on the people through taxation, tariff and price hikes. The government which has never ever been able to relieve the people of their hardships will therefore be forced to continue ruthlessly on the backs of the people to repay this loan too, he lamented.

“Another condition of the IMF is that the government should reduce its budget deficit which stands at 9-10% to 5% by 2011. This is a government which has since its beginning demonstrated that it cannot ever reduce the deficit. How it is going to reduce the deficit drastically to 5% is a mystery. Similarly, the other conditions too are impracticable judging by government’s fiscal performance up to now. In short, the loan is more inhibiting than facilitating. Yet, the government’s desperation has left it with no other choice,” said Mr. Karunanayake.

Mr. Karunanayake also urged the Mr. Karunanayake to be considerate towards the Army deserters who came back to the Army and served, without penalizing them.