Lankan crisis: Ranil's strategic plans to revert financial stability

CHENNAI: Sri Lanka's new Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Monday addressed the nation and gave outlines of his master plan to bring out the crisis hit situation in Sri Lanka to normal.

"We have planned to present a new alternative budget to the development budget proposed for 2022. Intend to present it as a concessionary budget," Ranil Wickremesinghe said to the nation.

At present, the Sri Lankan economy is extremely precarious. Although the former government’s budget projected revenue of SLR 2.3 trillion, SLR 1.6 trillion is the realistic projection of this year’s revenue, he added.

Ranil's solutions to revamp financial crisis in Sri Lanka:

• Proposes to privatise Sri Lankan Airlines which is incurring extensive losses. The loss for 2020-2021 alone amounts to SLR 45 billion.

• A quarter of electricity is generated through oil and there's a possibility that daily power outages will increase to 15 hrs a day.

• Must immediately obtain USD 20 mn to provide gas to consumers.

• To obtain approximately USD 75 mn within next couple of days.

• At present, Lanka only has petrol stocks for a single day. Due to diesel shipment that arrived yesterday, lack of diesel will be resolved to some extent.

The diesel shipment using an Indian credit line arrived in the country on Sunday but is yet to be distributed across the island.

A chronic foreign exchange shortage has led to rampant inflation and shortages of medicine, fuel and other essentials, bringing thousands out on the streets in protest.

"There is a lot to be done and undone. We are prioritizing matters, rest assured they shall be addressed as early as possible," he said in a series of tweets on Sunday.