India has “really helped” Sri Lanka in its efforts to cope with the island’s economic crash, the island nation’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said, however observing that aid coming in from different sources has put Sri Lanka “in the middle of geopolitics”, Trend reports citing The Hindu.
Over a month after his unexpected appointment - following former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s resignation amid unceasing anti-government protests over the crisis - Wickremesinghe spoke to The Hindu in his Colombo office on Saturday. The six-time premier sounded surprisingly upbeat in possibly the toughest assignment of his political career of nearly half a century. “It’s hectic, this is a new experience. I am working eight days a week,” he laughed. Outlining his immediate plans for economic recovery the 73-year-old PM, who is also the Finance Minister, said the government hopes to firm up the staff level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by the end of June.
“Then we have to wait for the debt restructuring plan. That will give us a clear indication of what we have to do. By July, I also hope to bring in the Interim Budget,” he said. Speaking of a “donor conference” where Sri Lanka will seek further foreign aid, Wickremesinghe said: “We have got to ensure that India, China, Japan all are singing the same tune.” Sri Lanka is “in the middle of geopolitics”, he said, referring to assistance from the Quad, mainly through its members India and Japan, and China.
Commenting on foreign investment, Wickremesinghe emphatically welcomed the Adani Group’s entry into the country’s energy sector, despite the group’s project being caught in a controversy, after a top Sri Lankan official told a Parliamentary panel that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had “pressured” President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to clear the US$ 500 million renewable energy project in Northern Sri Lanka. The official subsequently withdrew his statement. “If the Indian Government was really interested, I would have been told about this by Prime Minister Modi or his office. I haven't got any request to expedite it,” PM Wickremesinghe said.