AFP
Sri Lanka’s financial system might contract by -3.5 or -4.0% in 2023 after shrinking -11% final yr, President Ranil Wickremesinghe mentioned on Saturday.
“From 2024, we will take this economy to positive growth. We are creating a strong country that does not bow down to anyone and is debt-free,” he mentioned.
Speaking at a spiritual occasion, he mentioned: “The growth rate of the economy in 2022 was -11% and could be -3.5 or -4.0% this year.”
If financial packages which incorporates troublesome adjustments in coverage reminiscent of greater taxes, cuts in public expenditure and debt restructuring weren’t carried out then Sri Lanka might witness additional political unrest, he mentioned.
“No one can prevent the country from falling into crisis again similar to May and June last year,” Wickremesinghe mentioned.
The island nation of twenty-two million folks has struggled with challenges throughout the previous yr starting from a scarcity of overseas foreign money to runaway inflation and a steep recession – the worst such disaster since independence from Britain in 1948.
The authorities signed a preliminary settlement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in September for a $2.9 billion program however has to place its debt on a sustainable path earlier than disbursements can start.
