WILL GIVE WINGS TO GOVT’S BORROWING SPREE
Liability Management Bill
Former president and MP Mahinda Rajapaksa said yesterday the Active Liability Management Bill introduced by the government would give wings to the government’s borrowing spree.
He said the government had introduced the Active Liability Management Bill seeking authorization to borrow from local and foreign sources more than Rs.1 trillion above the yearly borrowing limit set by Parliament.
“The yahapalana government has been irresponsible and reckless in borrowing money from its inception. Under my government, Sri Lanka Development Bonds (SLDBS) were issued only twice a year to borrow an average of around US$350 million a year. However, in 2015, the yahapalana government issued SLDBS on no less than nine occasions, followed by six in 2016 and four in 2017 and have up to now borrowed US$7.7 billion from this source alone,” he said in a statement. The yahapalana government has been irresponsible and reckless in borrowing money from its inception
Mr. Rajapaksa said according to the Auditor General nobody knows what Sri Lanka’s real national debt is because debt had been concealed over the past ten years by shifting it to Stateowned enterprises and other government entities without being included in the public debt.
He said the Central Bank had to step into reassure the financial markets by issuing a statement contradicting the Auditor General’s claims and pointing out that Sri Lanka’s debts are accurately recorded and that Sri Lanka had an unblemished record in servicing that debt.
“The Auditor General’s constitutionally mandated task is to audit all agencies of the central government, all provincial councils and local authorities and every enterprise in which the State owns more than 50% of the shares. He is the last person in the country who can claim that he does not know how much is owed by each of these institutions. Under the proposed law the executive will be able to raise more than Rs.1 trillion in debts and make regulations about how that money will be used. Given the scandals that have already taken place in the issuance of public debt under this government, the danger inherent in this proposed law is obvious. Therefore, the Active Liability Management Bill should be resolutely opposed by every citizen of Sri Lanka,” Mr. Rajapaksa said in his statement.