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Message: <blockquote data-quote="monson" data-source="post: 28080223" data-attributes="member: 30005">An interview with the president of Sri LankaRanil Wickremesinghe explains how he plans to help Sri Lanka’s recoveryThe bankrupt nation will slash its budget expenditure to bare bones and hopes to break even or post a primary surplus of 1% of gross domestic product by 2025, Wickremesinghe said in the interview in his office. Photographer: Buddhika Weerasinghe/BloombergAug 16th 2022We interviewed the president of Sri Lanka in Colombo on August 14th 2022. This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.The Economist: Thank you very much for taking the time to see us, Mr Wickremesinghe. The last time we were here was three weeks ago, when it was obvious that this was a country in crisis. We got in last night and the vibe has changed tremendously. It’s visible on the street, on the way in from the airport. What has happened since July 21st to have caused that change?Ranil Wickremesinghe: Firstly, I think people wanted law and order. A lot of people are losing out…employed people couldn’t go to work. They had complaints about the government, but when President Gotabaya [Rajapaksa, Mr Wickremesinghe’s predecessor] left, they were willing to give us another chance. The election of the president went constitutionally, parliament voted, and has taken on the existing cabinet so that we can call for an all-party government, with people from outside within the committee system. We will devise some new mechanisms for that. People know that we are going in for a tough time. And they want to get out of it as soon as possible. Even those that supported the aragalaya [the protest movement], from about the end of May, they were getting tired of [the chaos]. And they didn’t expect the violence that took place on the 9th and the 13th.TE: Concretely though, there’s obviously more fuel in the country, the QR code system seems to be a big success, the fuel queues have vanished. There are more cars and auto rickshaws on the street. What steps have been taken in the past three weeks to have changed the mood of the country?RW: Well, first, we had to tackle the fuel issue. Second was the fact that we were reaching out to everyone. Even peaceful protesters in the aragalaya were welcomed. We are willing to establish people’s assemblies to look at all the changes to be made. The new standing order for oversight committees makes room for five* youth representatives. And they can ask questions, with the permission of the chairman. And while they can’t subscribe to the report, they can have their views recorded in it. And the parliament itself is grappling with ensuring that all the parties in the all-party administration can work together.TE: You’ve said it’s very important to you to form that kind of government. What’s so important about it? And what makes it problematic?RW: Well there’s a big crisis here. So how do we even get parties to work together? I’ve taken the lead in pushing the 22nd Amendment [to reduce the powers of the executive presidency], which is what they all wanted. So we will bring that in. And then you can set a new study for a new constitution, if they want. I brought that together with the select committee, the oversight committee system, plus a new National Council, modelled on something like the European Council. Also, we will try to get behind a common minimum programme so that the government knows that we have party support. Other issues can be discussed regularly, once a month. That’s to get the party leaders in. I said that I’m willing to have some of the chairmen of the oversight committees invited to cabinet as and when necessary.TE: What have been the obstacles in setting up this all-party government?RW: We’re only in discussions and every party is now in different groups. It’s not merely a question of parties, but groups and their point of view. The responsibility for the country coming out of the crisis lies with parliament. I refer even the IMF proposals to parliament. If anyone has better proposals, certainly we look at them. Otherwise we have to go ahead with what we have.TE: You’ve been very honest in recent weeks about how difficult it’s going to be, and what needs to happen to reduce the deficit and get back to a primary surplus, to reduce government debt. In terms of concrete steps, legislative priorities on economic policy, what are some of the things you need to tackle first?RW: We need a public-finance bill on the new taxes, then on state-owned enterprises [SOEs]. My idea is to do a deep cut and make a legislative framework for a highly competitive export-oriented economy, and then ensure the recovery takes off by 2024. It’s not worth dragging this out. Take a deep cut, but ensure that you can get recovery going so…TE: What do you mean by deep cut?RW: So that when you make changes, make it deep, make all the changes you have to make and then allow it to come up. Thailand did that but Thailand only had a banking crisis, they didn’t have a budget crisis. We have both but I am confident we can somehow make it through.</blockquote>

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