LNP – Ranil says multilateral agencies , friendly countries ready to help SL

Former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said today that Parliament should evolve a mechanism to get out of the current crisis and financial assistance from multilateral agencies and friendly countries was feasible to address economic woes.

Making his remarks in Parliament on the situation, he said this is a crisis of epic proportion which he never witnessed in his political life . Asserting that there is an economic crisis more than a political issue , he said the government should find foreign exchange somehow to ease the burden on people .

Wickremesinghe said he communicated with the top officials of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, and financial cooperation from them was feasible .

“The government should act in this regard,” he said.

He said short term credit facilities could be secured from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for urgent humanitarian needs such as purchasing pharmaceuticals until time consuming IMF programme was worked out.

Also , he said financial assistance could be obtained from the friendly countries such as India , China, Japan , South Korea and European Union .

He called for a relief budget in Parliament instead of a development budget.