Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa has told a delegation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that he intended to amend the one-sided pact the present government has signed with it and enter into a people-friendly one.
The SJB has a good plan for that purpose, he told the Fund’s officials at a meeting yesterday (18).
Premadasa noted the government has burdened the people with VAT and various other taxes, purportedly on the orders of the IMF.
As a result, the general public, pregnant women, children, middle class and public sector workers have become helpless, he said.
The SJB will work as the opposition, and after gaining power, to save the hapless people who suffer from the government’s economic policies and bring the country out of its bankruptcy.
Also present from the SJB at the meeting were its economic committee members Harsha de Silva, Eran Wickramaratne, Kabir Hashim, Sujeewa Senasinghe and Nalaka Godahewa as well as Premadasa’s secretary Thisath Wijegunawardena.
The IMF delegation comprised senior mission chief Peter Brewer, resident representative Sarwat Jahan and local economist Manavee Abeywickrama.
