Nandalal Weerasinghe, the governor of the central bank of Sri Lanka, has cautioned that the nation might collapse if no anchored government is formed before long.
There is a “lot of uncertainty” on whether sufficient foreign exchange can be located to compensate for necessary petroleum, says Weerasinghe in an interview with BBC’s Newsnight program.
He added that improvement in acquiring an international bailout package relied on having an anchored administration. The country is on the verge of a mass riot because of an economic crisis.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has escaped overseas, and acting president Ranil Wickremesinghe has implemented a curfew for day two.
Sri Lanka has experienced a decline in its economy, and food costs, fuel, as well as other basic needs hiked for ordinary individuals. Several people blame the Rajapaksa administration for botching the crisis and treat Wickremesinghe, who recently became the prime minister in May, as one of the problems.
Weerasinghe, who recently filled in as central bank’s governor in April, stated that he did not “see a way forward” on how to sustain essential supplies without an anchored government.
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“We have been able to finance at least three shipments of diesel probably until the end of this month and some one of two shipments of petrol, but beyond that, there’s a lot of uncertainty whether we even will be able to provide sufficient foreign exchange to finance essential petroleum for this country,” he stated.
Weerasinghe has been meeting with the International Monetary Fund on assistance.
“We hope to be able to make good progress in our discussion with the creditors for debt structuring, but the timing for that process [depends] on how soon there will be a stable administration,” he added.
When an anchored government is installed, Sri Lanka could resurface from the crisis somewhere “within three or four or five months,” he advised.
The central bank’s governor has been considered a prospective president; however, he seemed to contradict the idea, stating, “I have no interest in… taking any political position.”
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Photo Source: IB Times
