(July 31, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) It was none other than the Rajapakse Govt. which said, on the 4th of July that it will not need the IMF loan as the war is over , and the economy of the country is rosy, which ultimately begged for and took the loan abjectly capitulating to all the stringent conditions and rigorous terms imposed by the IMF, said, UNP M.P. Sagala Ratnayake speaking to the media at the UNP media unit today (31 Jul). The rosy economic picture painted and the loan rejected by the Govt. on 4th July changed to a dismal picture within a few days : the Central bank Governor , Cabraal and the deputy foreign Minister Siyambalapitiya on the 16th of July signed the letter of intent requesting the loan yielding to all conditions stipulated by the IMF, Ratnayake added.
When the UNP was trying to take loans from the IMF during its tenure in office ,on the best terms favorable to the country ,unlike the present IMF loan of this Govt. , this govt. in Opposition that time called the UNP as traitors. This Govt. now, in its desperation unable to get out of the economic impasse owing to its own monumental fiscal bungling and mismanagement is putting the masses to the guillotine to escape the capital punishment it is faced with .Its only hope is to repay the loan by taxing and axing the masses going by the conditions it has abjectly agreed to , he observed.
The bottom line is , this Govt. has agreed to the 12 conditions attaching to this loan only based on the hope of repaying the loan by further burdening the already abysmally suffering masses. The IMF has granted the loan subject to the conditions (among others) that the Govt. broadens the tax base and stops subsidizing the CEB and the CPC , two of the many Govt. Institution presently incurring colossal losses.
This is a Govt. well noted for extorting and exploiting the hapless masses to cover up corruption , losses in its sectors’ and Ministries , and with no commitment at all to alleviating the people’s sufferings, obviously will seek the easy route it is ruthlessly accustomed to – increase further taxes, tariffs and prices of commodities to the detriment of the people , he lamented.
Another condition of the loan is to make cut backs on Govt. expenditure . The Govt. instead of curtailing its expenditure on its largest Cabinet in the world , has thought it fit to make cut backs on the perks and allowances of the Forces who made the supreme sacrifices during the war. While decreasing the benefits due to the Forces , it has added two more Ministers increasing its expenditure to its already lopsided overloaded Govt., he noted. -Sri Lanka Guardian
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"IMF loan : Govt. escaped capital punishment by putting the Nation to the Guillotine"
By Sri Lanka Guardian • July 31, 2009 • • Comments : 1
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The writer is venomous on the government. He assumes that only UNP should have access to IMF loans, and they are the only people who know best of economics. We know how they plundered the economy, the mass scale privatizations, and gifts to UNP supporters and pace of un-rule. Even during the behest of riots in Colombo due to 13 soldiers butchered by the LTTE in the North, the JRJ government was not decisive in their actions. They damaged the good will we had with Tamils for centuries. In fact it is JRJ who lead the 1000 Bikhu march to Kandy which destroyed the understanding Mr. Bandaranaike had with Chelvanayagam. Then even with 5/6 power they had the parliament, they were more soaked on petty politics to send Mr. Bandaranaike to prison, even after supreme court has ruled otherwise. After breaking all the laws of the land, and making mockery of justice what are these UNP stooges still spell these rounded words. We have now destroyed the terrorists, it will take another few years to get the land all cleared of ammunition and secured. After that we can implement rules of law and democracy not based on nationality, race, religion or language. We have to treat all Sri Lankans as one people.
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