By Saman Indrajith

Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, on Thursday (21), claimed that the NPP government’s decision to continue with the IMF programme without renegotiating it amounted to a betrayal of its mandate.

Addressing the media at the parliamentary complex. Premadasa said there was a glaring mismatch between the promises made by the government during the election campaign and what the President said in his policy speech on Thursday about the IMF programme. He said he had een shocked by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s statements on bilateral debt and International Sovereign Bonds.

He asserted that the public was led to believe the existing IMF agreement would be renegotiated after Dissanayake came into power, yet the government has deviated from this promise. Premadasa emphasised that this is a serious issue and pointed out that the mandate granted to the government was not to implement the same policies as the previous administration.

The Opposition Leader said the government didn’t get a two-thirds majority to ape the same disastrous IMF policies, followed by the Ranil Wickremesinghe administration.

Premadasa stressed the importance of tangible actions, not just rhetoric, in addressing poverty alleviation, eradicating malnutrition among pregnant mothers and children, and reviving the local economy. He urged the government to focus on supporting small, medium, and micro-scale entrepreneurs by enabling access to various export markets.

Expressing surprise at the government’s continued adherence to the existing IMF agreement, Premadasa criticised its approach to VAT, tax structures, and overall economic activities. He underscored that the government had not been given a mandate to continue the old system and called on it to deliver the promised changes. He also offered his cooperation in implementing the necessary reforms.