By Shamindra Ferdinando

State Finance Minister Shehan Semasinghe said yesterday that the national economy was in such a parlous state that an election was the last thing the public needed.

The Anuradhapura District lawmaker said so in response to him being criticised by rebel SLPP leader, Prof. G.L. Peiris, at their regular weekly briefing ,at Nawala, over the possible postponement of Local Government polls, scheduled for early next year. As constitutionally stipulated, newly elected 340 Local Government authorities have to be formed by, or before, March 20, 2023.

Semasinghe said that had he been in the Opposition, he, too, would have certainly adopted that stance. “Therefore, I don’t find fault with Prof. Peiris for taking essentially a political stand that may not be realistic in view of the developing crisis. We are not out of the woods yet,” State Minister Semasinghe said, urging the Opposition to be mindful of the daunting challenges ahead.

The lastast LG polls were held in Feb. 2018, during the Yahapalana administration.

Responding to The Island queries, MP Semasinghe said that the entire parliamentary group, and members of the Cabinet, chaired by the executive, should accept responsibility for the current crisis.

The State Minister said that he couldn’t absolve himself of the responsibility, though he never represented the Cabinet at the time. Those who quit, or dropped, from the Cabinet, since the eruption of the controversy over the Yugadanavi power plant, in Sept. 2021, and those remained therein, were collectively responsible. “Let there be a thorough reappraisal of the decisions taken during Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s presidency,” the State Minister said.

MP Semasinghe strongly denied accusations that he was opposed to Local Government elections. The SLPP had the wherewithal to meet electoral challenge at any level, the lawmaker declared, underscoring the need to address the issues at hand before attention could be diverted.

The Minister said that priority should be given to, what he called, economic re-building measures. The MP asked whether those who had been demanding LG polls considered them urgent remedy for the crisis. According to the State Minister, some Opposition elements felt an electoral contest, early next year, would be advantageous to them, regardless of the consequences. “They do not realise that an election campaign will definitely discourage political parties from reaching the much required consensus on an economic recovery plan. Consequences will be devastating,” the State Minister said, warning the Opposition not to take advantage of the situation.

Whatever the criticism of the budget proposals, presented by President Ranil Wickremesinghe, in his capacity as the Finance Minister, received the approval of Parliament, lawmaker Semasinghe said. Therefore, the Opposition should now throw its weight behind the ongoing government efforts to rebuild the economy, the State Minister added. Unfortunately, there were interested parties who felt further delay in the finalization of the agreement with Washington-based International Monetary Fund (IMF), in respect of the USD 2.9 bn loan, would be politically advantageous to them.

State Minister Semasinghe said that those who exploited the current crisis could be compared with the political setup which took advantage of the war at a time the LTTE seemed invincible.

Responding to another query, the State Minister said that the USD 2.9 bn could be finalized once all creditors approved the overall resuscitation plan. MP Semasinghe said that he didn’t want to go into details as negotiations were continuing.

The State Minister also acknowledged that the recovery of unpaid taxes, amounting to billions of Rupees ,as well as remittance of funds ‘parked’ overseas, remained contentious issues which needed serious attention.

Recently, the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) revealed that unpaid taxes, accruing interest et al amounted to a staggering Rs 763 bn whereas Justice Minister Dr. Wjeyadasa Rajapaksa, PC declared, both in and out of Parliament, that exporters continued to hold export proceeds amounting to billions of USD in offshore accounts, despite being publicly exposed.