World Bank had predicted that Sri Lanka' s economic growth would be -3.2 by the end of the year while Asian Development Bank had predicted a negative growth of 6.1 percent, Leader of Opposition Sajith Premadasa told Parliament yesterday.

Mr. Premadasa who was speaking during the debate on Vote on Account in the House yesterday, said this data has already been put out by accepted sources.

" The ruling party members questioned about the sources from whom we got the data when we revealed the country's economic performance. World Bank had predicted that Sri Lanka' s economic growth would be -3.2 by the end of the year while Asian Development Bank had predicted a negative growth of 6.1 percent. I would like to suggest that MPs should be trained to handle statistics so that they could get a clearer picture of the country's economic situation and decide on effective steps to rectify the situation" Mr. Premadasa said.

He also questioned as to who would be responsible and accountable for Sri Lanka's drop to the level of a nation with a lower middle income earning nation from being a higher middle income earning nation. "We would like to question as to who would be responsible and accountable for this change?" he questioned.

"The proposal of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa to provide employment to 160,000 persons is welcomed but one must remember that more than 100,000 jobs have been lost due to the COVID - 19 crisis " he added. By Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana