Church, activists urge Sri Lanka to renegotiate with IMF to help poor

(UCAN) Church leaders in Sri Lanka have partnered with rights advocates to call for renegotiation of agreements with the International Monetary Fund, saying its curbs on spending are hurting government response to the recent flood crisis.

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More than 100 leaders, including 38 rights-based organizations, academics, lawyers, economists, policy experts, environmentalists, and 11 Catholic nun social workers, together sent an appeal to the government on Dec. 9, urging a renegotiation of the IMF agreement.

The appeal requested renegotiation to help the government restart energy and fuel subsidies, lift indirect taxes, and increase social welfare spending, which has been slashed to 0.6 percent of GDP.

Brito Fernando, a trade unionist and a human rights activist, said that “it’s hard to believe” that three years after the country became bankrupt due to a financial collapse, a disaster among the worst ever witnessed by the country hits it so badly.