Call to privatise SriLankan Airlines

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka opposition opposition lawmaker-turned government backer Diana Gamage said the government must consider privatising the loss-making state-owned national carrier SriLankan Airlines.

“It’s a huge burden on the government and this is the time to (seriously consider) privatising it,” Gamage said speaking in parliament during a debate on President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s policy statement.

Gamage called Sri Lanka a “broken nation”, referring to the country’s worst economic crisis since independence. She did not, however, mention the reasons for the crisis, such as ill-advised tax cuts and excess money printing – all decisions made by the government that she chose to support, turning her back on the main opposition Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB).

“We are a broken nation and we all need to get together and [uplift] the broken nation. A few reasons why we are a broken nation are corruption, inefficiency, malpractices, wrong decisions, and incompetence,” she said.