https://arab.news/wme6f
- Sajith Premadasa, chief of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya party, makes the threat in parliament
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s main opposition party on Friday asked the government to take effective action to resolve an economic crisis or face a no-confidence motion, as business leaders from garments, tea and other industries warned exports could fall 20-30 percent this year.
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.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is running his administration with only a handful of ministers after his entire cabinet resigned this week, while opposition and even some coalition partners rejected calls for a unity government to deal with the country’s 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.
“The government needs to address the financial crisis and work to improve governance, or we will move a no-confidence motion against the government,” Sajith Premadasa, the leader of Samagi Jana Balawegaya, said in parliament.
“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.”
Parliament proceedings were suspended twice in the morning after parliamentarians heckled each other, with two members temporarily removed from the chamber on the orders of the speaker.