Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe says that with the current economic situation in the country, it is necessary to print money in order to pay salaries of government servants.
In an interview with the BBC Sinhala Service on Friday (13), the newly appointed Prime Minister said that although printing money was not his policy, with the current situation, it had to be done, if not it would not be possible to even pay salaries of public servants.
“We are facing a severe economic crisis. I do not think there was such an economic crisis even during the times of the English or the Dutch ruling the county” he said.
Wickremesinghe said that he intends to solve the economic crisis in the country by getting the support of friendly nations. He also said that due to the lack of government revenue, even the rupee income is not sufficient.
“We cannot generate foreign currency income within the country. I haven’t gone through the statistics yet, but I am told that we need about 3 billion dollars to overcome the crisis. Obtaining this will be our first challenge.” PM added.