(MENAFN- Trend News Agency)
The preliminary agreement with the International Monetary Fund
(IMF), under which Sri Lanka nation stands to receive $2.9 billion
to tackle the ongoing economic crisis, is a“first step” in the
long haul of economic recovery but will provide the country and
investors“confidence” to attract increased investments and
remittances, Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India Milinda Moragoda
said Thursday.
Speaking at The Indian Express Idea Exchange (a detailed
transcript will be published September 5), Moragoda said that with
the IMF agreement taking shape, Sri Lanka now expects more
countries to offer assistance while underlining that India was the
“only partner” to have stepped up even without a framework in
place.
“The key fact here is that having the staff-level agreement
gives us confidence. The money is not huge but it gives us
confidence — one for investors to come in, maybe for our
remittances which have dropped by half to increase and…also for
other bilaterals like Japan to come. We are grateful to India,
which encouraged us to go to the IMF. Finance Minister (Nirmala)
Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar played a role
in that. India was the only country, the only partner, which
stepped up without us having any kind of programme,” Moragoda
said.
Earlier this year, Sri Lanka, battling the worst economic crisis
in its history, had plunged into unprecedented turmoil, with an
acute shortage of essentials such as fuel and medicine triggering
massive protests, which forced Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the
country and resign as President, a post taken over by Ranil
Wickremesinghe.
Following the IMF package, Moragada identified power, oil and
tourism as some of the areas where structural reforms, through
cooperation with India, can help restore macroeconomic stability.
India, he said, can explore developing the port city of Trincomalee
as an energy hub.
Asked what the low-hanging fruit was when it came to vital
structural reforms, Moragada said:“I would take the electricity
sector. I would use the relationship with India, the connectivity
grid with India, and bring in private investment in electricity
generation. That could mean new power plants in renewable energy,
or it could mean buying existing plants through a privatisation
process. I would go as far as to liberalise the last mile
distribution like you have done where and use the grid to India to
create capacity and export and also import if we need it. But I
think India can be the catalyst for that, but we need to move
quickly.”
Asked if Rajapaksa, who is reportedly in Thailand, plans to
return, Moragoda said,“He will return soon, I think, to Sri
Lanka.” But the possibility of him finding a place in the country's
political leadership is thin, said Moragoda, who took over as High
Commissioner last year.
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