JVP slams WB, IMF on eve of Sri Lanka budget

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 November 2004, 14:07 GMT]
A trade union of the Marxist, Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s main coalition partner, put up thousands of posters in Colombo Wednesday warning that her government’s maiden budget, which is to be presented Thursday in Parliament, should not fall prey to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. The JVP is stridently opposed to the influence that World Bank and IMF have had on Sri Lanka’s fiscal policies since the country’s economy was deregulated in 1977.

The JVP recently prevailed on President Kumaratunga to preclude the IMF from taking part in the preparatory discussions on the 2004 budget with the Ministry of Finance.

The JVP front, the Inland Revenue Department Workers Union, urged the government in its posters to strengthen the revenue system in Sri Lanka to reduce its dependence on the IMF and World Bank.

The JVP has been campaigning for the negating the influence of World Bank and IMF in Sri Lanka’s economy. The party argues that the two institutions are “the main tentacles by which US imperialism has a stranglehold on Sri Lankan affairs”.

Related Articles:
08.05.03   PA-JVP in final round of talks on agreement
04.09.01   Marxists look for gains from bailout
01.09.01   PA to sign agreement with Marxists