• He said fuel, gas prices and electricity tariffs were increased as per the conditions of the IMF

By Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera 

Claiming  that the government was planning to privatize state-owned enterprises  such as the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) in accordance with IMF  conditions, National People’s Power (NPP) MP Vijitha Herath yesterday  said a similar move to privatize the CEB on IMF conditions were thwarted  by the JVP in 2005.

He told  Parliament that there were moves in 2005 to privatize the CEB on IMF  conditions when the JVP was in the Cabinet during the Chandrika  Bandaranaike government and that the move was thwarted due to the  intervention of the JVP.
“The  CEB would have been privatized in 2005 if not for JVP’s intervention.  We warned to withdraw from the Cabinet if the CEB was privatized and  the proposal was then withdrawn ,” he said.

The  MP said Article 4 report issued by the IMF Director Board in March 2,  2022 clearly stated four conditions such as cutting down tax concessions and imposing new taxes, reforming state-owned enterprises, introducing  cost recovery energy prices and fight against corruption and that four  out of the IMF conditions except for fight against corruption had been  implemented.

He said  fuel, gas prices and electricity tariffs were increased as per the  conditions of the IMF and said government should tell the actual reason  behind these increases without suppressing the actual reasons.
He  said the reasons that led to the losses of the CEB should be  ascertained and provided solutions instead of privatizing the institute.