Sri Lanka Parliament to Hold Special Session on Saturday to Discuss Debt Restructuring
Wed, Jun 28, 2023 4:53 PM on Latest,
Sri Lanka's Parliament will hold a special session on Saturday to discuss debt restructuring," as reported by Dailymirror.
Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana has issued a Gazette Extraordinary to convene the special session on Saturday, July 1. This meeting has been called at 9:30 am in accordance with Standing Order 16 of the Standing Orders of Parliament, as requested by the Prime Minister.
Earlier reports stated that Parliament would be convened on both Saturday and Sunday to seek approval for the domestic debt restructuring process.
The decision to hold the "special session" on July 1 and July 2 to discuss domestic debt restructuring was made during a special meeting of party leaders on Tuesday, as reported by Dailymirror, citing a spokesman from the Speaker's office. The Sri Lankan Speaker also emphasized the importance of holding a party leaders' meeting next week.
Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa emphasized that the final decision should be made by the party leaders and questioned the plan to hold a weekend session, according to the Sri Lankan publication Dailymirror.
During his recent visit to the United Kingdom (UK), Sri Lanka's President Ranil Wickremesinghe promised that the country would complete its debt restructuring by September of this year.
Since gaining independence in 1948, Sri Lanka has never faced a crisis of this magnitude.
The crisis was caused by years of poor financial management by successive Sri Lankan governments, and the Gotabaya Rajapaksa regime's decision to forgo addressing the IMF to prevent the country from accumulating debt.
Several protests have taken place against the government due to the negative impact of the financial crisis on food security, gasoline availability, and the price of cooking gas.
Source: RSS