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COLOMBO The head of Sri Lanka’s main opposition party said it would move a no-confidence motion in parliament against the government if it does not take measures to address the country’s financial crisis and improve governance.
Sajith Premadasa, chief of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya party, made the threat in parliament. “The government needs to address the financial crisis and work to improve governance, or we will move a no-confidence motion,” he said.
“It is imperative that Sri Lanka must avoid a disorderly debt default. The government must work to suspend debt and appoint financial advisers to start off the process of restructuring debt.”
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is running his administration with only a handful of ministers after his entire cabinet resigned this week, while the opposition and even some coalition partners rejected calls for a unity government to deal with the worst crisis in decades.
At least 41 lawmakers have walked out of the ruling coalition to become independents, though the government says it still has a majority in parliament.
Parliament proceedings were suspended twice in the morning on Friday as rivals heckled each other, with two members temporarily removed from the chamber on the orders of the speaker.
READ MORE: Sri Lanka calls for restructuring $1bn debt
Nearly two dozen associations, representing industries that collectively employ a fifth of the country’s 22 million people, together urged the government to quickly seek financial help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB).
Rajapaksa is struggling to find a new finance minister to hold talks this month with the IMF for emergency loans, after Ali Sabry submitted his resignation on Tuesday having spent just a day in office.
Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange reserves have plunged some 70% in the past two years, hitting $1.93 billion at the end of March. It has a debt of $1 billion due for payment in July, and more later in the year.
Inflation has rocketed to its highest level in more than a decade, and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka is expected to raise key interest rates by as much as 400 basis points (bps) following a 100 bps rise in early March.
The heavily indebted country has little money left to pay for imports, which has led to crippling shortages of fuel, power, food, and increasingly, medicine. Street protests have gone on nearly non-stop for more than a month, despite a five-day state of emergency and a two-day curfew.