Opposition should meet bond holders: Harsha

• By Yohan Perera

Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Harsha de Silva yesterday said he only called for a meeting with bond holders to discuss the external debt restructuring process and never sought a meeting with the IMF as suggested by President Ranil Wickremesinghe.  

 “I never asked for a meeting with the IMF. What I said was that we need to have an agreement on the external debt restructuring with the bilateral creditors and ISB creditors. I reminded the President that his term will soon come to an end and whoever wins will have to honour the agreement entered now. If not, a second default could occur. 

“That will spell doom. So, it is in the best interest of the people that any external restructuring should have bipartisan agreement. This does not mean agreeing on a restructure and getting government members to approve it in parliament,” Dr. de Silva said.

The MP said the President wanted the Opposition to meet the IMF officials instead of bond holders.
Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition Sajith Premadasa in a letter addressed to President Ranil Wickremesinghe has informed him that his party will not attend the all-party meeting which the latter had called for today to discuss debt restructuring. However he said his party will meet the IMF on its own. 

“Members of the Opposition are at all times prepared to engage with IMF representatives from the standpoint of protecting national interest as they have done in the past,” Premadasa has mentioned in his letter to the President.