Ranil to re-negotiate IMF stand by facility if elected to power in April

United National Party (UNP) Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said if elected to power he would re-negotiate the stand-by arrangement of US$ 2.9 billion with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and that the funding agency had already agree to such a move.

“I have already spoken to the IMF and they have agreed,” he said.

Wickremesinghe told the media that he would formulate a separate deal if elected to power at the April 8 general election.

He noted that financial agreements should be formulated in a manner beneficial to the country.
     “There is no point in looking at cutting without growing.”

Wickremesinghe noted that the country’s total debt has increased against the country’s revenue.

“Our annual revenue is only Rs.705 billion and the debt and interest payment is Rs.825 billion,” he said.

Speaking of how he planned to address the country’s economic issues in accordance to the policy statement released by the UNP yesterday (16), Wickremesinghe said that he would push for a one to two year debt moratorium for the country from friendly nations that have given concessionary loans, stop the repayment of foreign commercial borrowings that are illegal and increase new revenue generating methods though cracking down corruption.

He added that steps would also be taken to take over the troubled assets from banks to restructure the system.