Impending economic crisis needs to be resolved urgently to prevent a serious catastrophe: SL private sector says

More than 35 Sri Lankan organisations including chambers on Thursday sent a letter to all members of parliamentarians urging them to seek urgent solutions to end the acute economic crisis.

“We wish to bring to your attention the catastrophic economic wave that is heading towards all of us. Our organisations collectively representing exporters, importers, manufacturers, tourism sector, shipping and logistics providers, other service providers along with many other vital sectors of the economy are witnessing a fast and a steady collapse of the supply chains, which could in turn seriously disrupt both financial markets and banking systems,” it said in a letter copied to the President.

If all industries, exports and other critical sectors of the economy come to a standstill, the result will be the destruction of the entire social fabric with the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector being the hardest hit, the letter said.

Therefore, it pointed out that it was imperative that the Government is able to take forward the engagement with IMF and the debt restructuring process coupled with other much needed reforms with a sense of urgency to avoid an economic catastrophe.

“We call upon from the leaders of political parties and all elected representatives of the people to bring upon political stability to the country by the end of this week, where a pragmatic interim solution is brought upon by the sitting parliamentarians together with the executive branch to address the concerns of citizens that has led to a massive public uprising. We strongly believe if this trend is continued it can turn into a spiral of violence which can cause serious damage to the people and economy of this country. Therefore, we urge every one of you to take up responsibility and act in the best interest of the country at this crucial juncture of our nation to establish an interim government that can focus on the immediate priorities described above,” the letter said.