Reforms must for SL's economic recovery: Wickremesinghe

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Thursday promised the countrymen a future of economic stability without hardships, as he asked them to support the government's reform efforts for reviving the island nation's economy after its bankruptcy.

In a televised address, Wickremesinghe, who is also the finance minister, said: "These reforms will lead to decreased cost of living, improved standards of living, relief for the poor and a culture of transparency".

He said the country's economy is gradually recovering thanks to the correct policies adopted by the govt over the past nine months.

Wickremesinghe said the costs saving measures had led to positive outcomes, including reduced inflation, and increased remittances.

He said that the country's development has been based on four primary pillars - fiscal and financial reforms, investment drive, social protection and governance and state-owned enterprises transformation.

"Everyone must support reform efforts. The government promises a future of economic stability without hardships".

He said the inflation had now dropped to 25 per cent from 75 per cent a year ago.

Recalling the past year since he took over Wickremesinghe said during "this challenging period our neighbour India played a significant role in supporting us".

India extended multi-pronged assistance of about USD 4 billion to Sri Lanka last year, through multiple credit lines and currency support, in line with India's Neighbourhood First' policy.

This week, India announced the extension of its USD 1 billion facilities for imports of essentials granted in early 2022 during the early days of the economic crisis.

Commenting on the state enterprises reforms programme, Wickremesinghe said there are 430 public enterprises operating in 33 sectors of the economy, they employ 6 per cent of the population.

The losses of big enterprises were equivalent to 1.6 per cent of the GDP. "It is unjust to burden the 22 million people with this debt. We must urgently undertake necessary reforms to ensure the turn around of them," he said.

In April 2022, Sri Lanka declared its first-ever debt default, the worst economic crisis since its independence from Britain in 1948, triggered by forex shortages that sparked public protests.

Months-long street protests led to the ouster of the then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa in mid-July.