United National Party (UNP) Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said a crisis of this magnitude would not have arisen today if the programnes initiated by the previous government had been continued. He said the country had been deprived of about five billion US dollars due to non-implementation of these programmes.
Responding to questions raised by youth on social media on Thursday he said government revenue decreased due to the reduction of VAT after the Presidential election.
“In addition, the COVID pandemic caused economic damage to us as well as other countries. No foreign exchange was received. Factories and other businesses had to be closed down.
He added that assistance was provided from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to bring in medicine and the government accepted them.