The Sri Lanka Freedom Party is accusing the Government of attempting to privatise its most profit-making ventures including Sri Lanka Telecom. Speaking at a press conference held yesterday, SLFP MP Dayasiriya Jayasekara said the Government has failed to reveal its plan for loss-making state enterprises. “The Government today has 52 enterprises which are making a collective loss of Rs. 86 billion annually. No mention was made in the budget about these institutions and any plan to either turn them profitable or restructure them. The Government must reveal this information,” he said.

Jayasekara said instead the Government is now preparing to privatise Sri Lanka Telecom, the highest profit-making Government venture in which the state has 42 per cent of shares. “Last year SLT paid Rs. 1.8 billion in dividends to the treasury. It made a profit of Rs. 11.5 billion before taxes between 1 Jan - Sep 30 this year.” he said.

Noting that SLT has 13 other subsidiary companies, Jayasekara said they too are profit-making businesses. “The country will lose one of its most valuable and economically important assets if SLT is sold. The importance of the SLT in the country’s security apparatus must also be noted,” he added.

Jayasekara said the SLFP is against the Government’s attempt to sell profitable businesses and called on it to halt the process immediately. “We have serious concerns about these decisions and therefore the Government must stop this move. It appears the economic policies of the Government, the President and the Central Bank have many disparities. This will only end in chaos,” he said.