By Yohan Perera   

The United National Party(UNP) has questioned the absence of the Finance Minister from Sri Lanka despite the ongoing financial crisis.  

UNP in a statement questioned as to why the Finance Minister was on holiday at a time of financial uncertainty in the country. “The cost of living is rising daily, food items are not available in the shops, the public are losing jobs, however, the Finance Minister has ignored all these problems and gone on a holiday with his family. In other countries if this happened the Minister would have been forced to resign,” the party said.  

“This Government has shown that they are not interested in fulfilling their responsibilities to the public. The Finance Minister is not the only Minister to leave the country and go on holiday, several other Ministers have also travelled overseas at this time of hardship,” the statement said.  Further accusing the Government of failing to solve the growing number of problems in the country, it has been  questioned why the Cabinet feels it is right to go on holiday while the rest of the country is continuing to work overtime during the holiday season, “It is the Christmas season and the end of the year, yet the public are continuing to work to prevent a financial collapse.