‘UNP’s so-called economists talking rot’:

China, a window of opportunity for Sri Lanka - Dr Sarath Amunugama

by Uditha Kumarasinghe

Senior Minister for International Monetary Cooperation and Deputy Finance and Planning Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama said that only Sri Lanka could borrow from China which was a window of opportunity gained during the UPFA government led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

President Rajapaksa is a fortunate leader because we grabbed this opportunity while money was available for infrastructure development from China.

Sri Lanka has resources in abundance. Therefore, we should be complimented for grabbing this rare opportunity. I want to highlight this to the UNP, the Minister told the Sunday Observer yesterday.

Dr. Amunugama said the UNP queried as to why we don’t get concessionary credit. A limited amount of concessionary credit is given through multilateral agencies.

However, even that much is not given because we are a middle-income country now and we have to go to a different loan window. “I have repeatedly said on behalf of the government in Washington and all other fora that we are a success story and should not be penalised for being a success. China has decided to launch a new bank called Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank to which Sri Lanka would also be a signatory. China will immediately invest US$ 50 billion as their contribution to this fund and we could benefit from it.

US$ 50 billion is much more than the ADB’s resources. Hence, we are going through a very favourable phase. “If we listen to what these so-called UNP economists say Sri Lanka would lose everything. They are mere talkers and not doers”.

The best example is what the Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei told the 47th Annual Meeting of the ADB in Astana recently.

He said that all the money given by the World Bank, multilateral regional banks such as the ADB and Africa Fund put together is very little compared to what one regional Chinese bank is lending to the world.

The UNP’s so-called economists are talking rot when they question as to why we should borrow from China.