Mahinda recalls huge commercial borrowings during Yahapalana rule

The Yahapalana administration drew many commercial loans and that is the reason why Sri Lanka is facing the current debt crisis, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa says.

“Some MPs who talk about the economic crisis were a part of that government. When they were asked to play a role in solving the problems the country faces, they refused to do so,” he told Parliament yesterday.

Rajapaksa said that he had never abandoned the people in their time of need.

“When we took over in 2019 the Yahapalana government had drawn a huge loan. I have done all we can to help the country. We had to face the Easter Sunday attacks and COVID. We are still doing things to overcome the aftermath of these problems.”

Rajapaksa said that some decisions they had made some wrong decisions.

“We need to carry out economic reforms that can get the country out of the current crisis. We must increase export revenue. Export revenue must be brought into the country within 180 days. If this does not happen, the relevant institutions must take steps”.

Rajapaksa said that the government had allocated a large amount of money for welfare and social security.

He added that he was opposed to selling national assets and steps should be taken to transform lossmaking state entities to profit-making ones. “We are opposed to selling national assets.”