News
Debt restructuring: Sajith alleges Prez failed to secure optimal deal
By Saman Indrajith
Opposition and SJB leader Sajith Premadasa told Parliament yesterday (02) that the government had failed to secure the optimal deal in the debt restructuring process.
Soon after the President made a special statement to the House, Premadasa said that the government haD failed to secure the best possible deal in the debt restructuring process. The globe-trotting President could have made use of his visits to secure the best possible deal to Sri Lanka. “The President says that the government has assured the best interests of this country but there are serious issues with regard to financial discipline and deliverance and promises it makes,” Premadasa said.
The government had not yet been able to provide thE House with bi-lateral agreements it had entered in relation to the debt-restructuring process, Premadasa said..
The President’s statement that Sri Lanka had been able to enter into agreements to restructure debt earlier than other countries that had been in similar economic crises was not true. Countries such as Ghana, Argentina, Ecuador, Barbados, Belize, Mongolia and Chad succeeded in entering into debt-restructuring agreements before Sri Lanka, said the Opposition Leader.
“We expected the President to furnish all necessary information pertaining to the debt-restructuring agreement. However, there was no such presentation. We are waiting to see whether Sri Lanka has been able to restructure the debts in a manner favourable to this country. We are yet to find whether the incumbent government could fare better than Argentina, Ghana and Ecuador in the debt restructuring agreement,” Premadasa said.
“The President, in his statement to the nation, said that we’ll start repaying the loans in 2028. There was a Debt Sustainability Analysis by the IMF in March 2023 stating that Sri Lanka would be able to start the process of repaying its debts from 2033. We demand to know how and why the government could not keep it to 2033 and reasons for starting this in 2028. We think that this is owing to failures that took place during the negotiations.
“The President speaks of a success in the debt-restructuring process without revealing true figures. For example, he stated that the debts we owed to the China Exim Bank was at US $ 3.9 billion and that the bank had agreed to restructuring. But he did not mention anything about the US $ 13.8 million debt we owed to the Chinese Government or US $ 538 million debt to the China Development Bank.
Premadasa said that the government’s debt restructuring process had double standard policy with regard to International Sovereign Bond (ISB) holders and the poor people in the country. It seems that the government has succumbed to the threats and pressure of the ISB holders. In 2022, it was clearly stated that the government would not restructure the local debts. However, in the face of the ISB holders’ threats, the government went for that. It did not even touch the super-rich primary bond dealers but pick-pocketed the monies in the pension funds and EPF. In October 2023, the government announced that it would not implement Value Recovery Instruments. However, after ISB holders exerted pressure, the government implemented Macro-link Bonds. It promised transparency and comparability for domestic bond holders and spoke of equal burden sharing. But there was no burden sharing by ISB holders; instead the government pick-pocketed the poor people’s money in pension funds and EPF.
“The President, in his statement, questioned the achievements this government has been able to make, good or bad. I am asking whether increase of malnutrition is good or bad, whether the brain drain is good or bad, whether the increase of unemployment good or bad, whether the increase of poverty is good or bad, whether the closure of MSMEs in their hundreds of thousands is good or bad, whether the entrepreneurs leaving their professions is good or bad, whether the collapse of construction industry is good or bad, whether the children faint in schools because they have no food is good or bad,” Premadasa demanded to know.
Protesting Development Officers continued their hunger strike near the Presidential Secretariat, Colombo yesterday (01), for the seventh consecutive day.The protesters, who are members of the Lanka School Development Officers’ Association, are demanding that they be absorbed into the teacher service as they have served as teachers in state-run schools for nearly seven years.
Secretary of the Association, Viraj Manaranga, said the protesters were seeking an urgent meeting with the President. He added that a presidential aide had visited the protest site and offered to arrange for a meeting with the President on 03 Feb., but the union insisted on an earlier date. Manaranga warned that failure to grant a meeting could trigger a massive protest in Colombo today (02).
Four officers participating in the hunger strike have been hospitalised due to deteriorating health, while two more joined the fast on Saturday (31).
In a bid to raise awareness of their grievances, on 30 January a delegation of the All Island Development Officers’ Association visited Most Venerable
Warakagoda Sri Gnanarathana Thera, Mahanayake of the Asgiriya Chapter, and subsequently with the Chapter’s Registrar, Ven. Dr. Medagama Dhammananda Thera. The prelates said promises that had been made to them should be fulfilled.
The protest began on 26 January as a satyagraha, after authorities failed to respond to repeated requests to integrate the officers into the teaching service. The escalation into a fast-unto-death underscores the protesters’ frustration over the prolonged delay
by Pradeep Prasanna Samarakoon
The long-vacant post of Auditor General would be filled on 03 Feb., after months of controversy and delays, Minister of Transport, Highways and Urban Development Bimal Rathnayake said on Friday (31) in Kandy.
The Constitutional Council met at the Parliamentary complex on Friday to discuss the appointment but failed to reach a decision on a suitable candidate. The President had previously proposed four names on four separate occasions, all of which were rejected. The Council is now set to consider the fifth nominee.
The post has remained vacant since April 2025, following the retirement of Chulanta Wickramaratne, who served as the 41st Auditor General. More than 10 months have passed without a permanent appointment.
Sources said a female officer in the Auditor General’s Department has been nominated again, though her previous recommendation was rejected due to some allegations against her.
Meanwhile, senior audit officer Dharmapala Gammanpila, with 31 years of service and the department’s most senior official, has received backing from the Mahanayake Theras of the three Nikayas, the Maha Sangha, and several civil society groups for appointment as the 42nd Auditor General.
Sources noted that the three civil society representatives on the Constitutional Council will play a crucial role in the final decision.
by Chaminda Silva and SK Samaranayake
Two 18-year-old youth were arrested by the Southern Division of the Western Province Crime Division on 31 January for allegedly aiding and abetting two murders carried out in Dehiwala and Kohuwala. ICE (crystal meth) was found in their possession at the time of arrest.
The suspects are residents of Mount Lavinia and Boralesgamuwa, according to the police. They are accused of having helped carry out a murder at a hotel in the Dehiwala Police Division on 9 January, 2026, and an attack on a person travelling in a three-wheeler at Bodhiyawatta, Kohuwala, on 12 December, 2025.
Police said the charges included sending photographs of the victims to a criminal living overseas.
Investigations revealed that the youth had acted under the direction of a criminal known as Sando.
Under the guidance of Janaka Kumara, Director of the Southern Division of the Western Province Crime Division, investigations are being led by Police Inspector Hemanta Kumara, assisted by Sub-Inspectors Prasanna Gunathilaka and Prasanna (40248), and Constables Chaminda (72987), Anil (79598), Kumar (88762), and Senanayake (19363), who are continuing the probe.
by Norman Palihawadane and Chaminda Silva
Showers expected in the Northern, North-central, Eastern, Western, Uva, Sabaragamuwa, Southern and Central provinces
Development Officers threaten to intensify their protest
Auditor General to be appointed tomorrow
Two arrested for aiding and abetting murder
CID summons former First Lady again
Remembering Upali Wijewardene, founder of Upali Group of Companies
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
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