The new administration plans to privatize Sri Lankan Airlines, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told in a televised address to the nation Monday.
Sri Lanka’s new government plans to sell its national airline to stem losses, part of the effort to stabilize the nation’s finances even as authorities are forced to print money to pay government salaries.
Sri Lankan Airlines, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said
The carrier lost 45 billion rupees ($124 million) in the year ending March 2021, he suggested just days before the nation is set to formally default on foreign debt.
“It should not be that this loss has to be borne by the poorest of the poor who have not set foot in an aircraft,” Wickremesinghe said.
Wickremesinghe — less than a week into the job — told he was forced to print money to pay salaries, which will pressure the nation’s currency. The nation has only one day’s stock of gasoline and the government is operating to obtain dollars in the open market to pay for three ships with crude oil and furnace oil that have been anchored in Sri Lankan waters, Wickremesinghe told.
“The next couple of months will be the most difficult ones of our lives,” Wickremesinghe said. “We must immediately establish a national assembly or political body with the participation of all political parties to find solutions for the present crisis.”
The premier pledged to announce a new “relief” budget to replace President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s “development” budget that helped stoke Asia’s fastest inflation rate.
The cabinet will propose that parliament increase the treasury bill issuance limit to 4 trillion rupees from 3 trillion rupees, Wickremesinghe told, forecasting a budget deficit of 13% of gross domestic product for the year ending December 2022.
India and China
Wickremesinghe’s appointment last week observed violent clashes between government supporters and protesters requesting Rajapaksa’s resignation. He has yet to select a finance minister to direct bailout talks with the International Monetary Fund and is seeking bridge loans from nations including India and China.
Also, read
- Emirates posts $1 billion annual loss, bets on profitability in FY2022-23
- Boeing and AIESL announce partnership for the maintenance of B777 aircraft used by VVIPs
- Aviation Minister agrees to examine the ‘new rule’ to charge extra for boarding pass at the airport
It’s unclear if the government will get the cash in the absence of a full cabinet.
Sri Lanka is sliding into default as the grace time on two unpaid foreign bonds ends on Wednesday, the latest blow to a country rattled by economic pain and social unrest.
Sri Lankan Airlines from Dubai’s Emirates
The nation’s dollar bonds edged higher on Monday, though they stayed deep in the distressed territory. The extra yield investors require to hold the sovereign notes over US Treasuries narrowed 22 basis points to 37.29 percentage points, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. data.
In 2010, the government in Colombo bought back a stake in Sri Lankan Airlines from Dubai’s Emirates. The national carrier, which has a fleet of 25 Airbus SE planes, flies to destinations in Europe, the Middle East as well as South and Southeast Asia, according to the source.
Thank you
Stay updated with Aviationa2z.com
