Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickramasinghe said that the country is facing great difficulties due to short-sighted popular decisions. The President had expressed his agreement to the MPs’ request to appoint a Parliamentary Select Committee to look into the parties who made wrong decisions that led the country to such an economic crisis.
“Today, the country is facing great difficulties due to short-sighted popular decision-making. In order to uplift the future of the country, unpopular decisions have to be made” President said.
“We do not want to increase electricity rates. We are also in politics. We are well aware of the suffering of the people. But what is our alternative? We have brought this economy forward with difficulty. Now we have also discussed with China, from there we can go to the next step. But if we can’t show the income, we won’t get help from outside.
Therefore, we have to make these decisions with regret and reluctance. We have to think about the country and work. Unpopular decisions have to be made. But because of those decisions, the future will be better. We are here today because we have always made popular decisions. Never had to face such a situation before. After 2013, we did not increase electricity charges. We are all responsible for the situation we are in today. Other countries made difficult decisions. But we got away with it.”
The President said this while participating in the debate on the third reading of the budget in Parliament today (08).
A parliamentary select committee will be established on a resolution by the Parliament to look into those who led the economy to bankruptcy with incorrect fiscal policies.
