• Stress on need to undertake delayed fiscal reforms, continue talks with IMF for programme support  
• Call for elections once basic level of stability is gained as an executive president appointed by P’ment unlikely to have public acceptance 

The Central Bank Executive Officers Union yesterday urged the pollical party leaders to ensure the appointment of a president and a prime minister recognised by the public to carry out the delayed fiscal reforms on an urgent basis, in order to stabilise the economy with the support of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Issuing a letter to all the party leaders representing Parliament, ahead of the parliamentary vote to elect a new president, the union stressed that the continuous delays in implementing the fiscal reforms do not augur well for the prospects of entering into an agreement with the IMF quickly, in order to come out of the on-going economic crisis.

“The most practical solution at the moment to get out of the crisis is to get involved in a programme with the IMF as soon as possible, which even the outgoing regime had recognised though was too late. Even though it has been more than two months since a new Cabinet was appointed, after the political upheaval that happened on May 9, 2022, the continued delay in the implementation of the necessary reforms in the fiscal sector is not at all beneficial to the aforementioned programme,” the letter read.

Hence, the union asserted that the party leaders must ensure the appointment of such a president and prime minister accepted by the public, in order to undertake the delayed fiscal reforms by putting aside prioritising party politics and personal agendas.

 “Political stability is essential to achieve economic stability and there should be a guiding economic and political programme that can be agreed upon by all political parties in the existing Parliament. For that, it is necessary to appoint a president and a prime minister, who would have public recognition. Therefore, we insist that all political parties representing Parliament actively engage to find a viable solution to the existing problem, deprioritising party politics and personal agendas,” the letter read.

As insisted by the IMF, the union also called the party leaders to step in to introduce new legislation towards a more independent Central Bank to ensure the stability of the country. Although the drafting of the Central Bank Act was completed in 2019, the new government that came into power in late 2019 abandoned the move towards a more independent Central Bank.

As soon as the new government restores the basic level of stability, the union opined that elections are needed to be held to elect a new president and a government, as the new president and government, which would be selected by Parliament, are unlikely to gain social acceptance to govern for a longer period of time. “We are of the view that the opinion of the public is not reflected through the existing Parliament majority, as a result of the wrong and ill-timed decisions taken by the ruling party, especially during the past two and half years. In this background, it is doubtful that an executive president, who will be elected by the current Parliament, will have the social acceptance to stay in power for a longer period of time. In such a situation, it would be prudent to give an opportunity for the people to express their opinion at the very first instance when the basic level of stability of the country is fulfilled and we hope that the incoming president and prime minister will attend to this matter with due consideration,” the letter read.