President’s economic council has same members who led SL to present debacle: Vijitha

Expressing his views, National People's Power MP Vijitha Herath said today that the economic council appointed by the President recently, comprised the same members who were instrumental for the current economic debacle.

MP Herath also said the council would never be successful in boosting the economic growth as envisaged by the President.

He told Parliament that the council that was appointed does not have any experts or scholars, but the same group that was responsible for the present precarious situation.

He said a similar economic council that was appointed by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu to address the economic situation included world renowned economic experts and scholars.

The members appointed by the President included personnel such as Basil Rajapaksa and Johnston Fernando.

He said experts and scholars in Sri Lanka have also volunteered to provide their expertise to bail the country out of the present crisis and added that their guidance and expertise have been ignored by the government. (Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera)