Sri Lankan cricketer great Muttiah Muralitharan has opened up about the economic crisis in his country. The off-spinner, who is currently in India for the current IPL season, said all stakeholders – politicians, bureaucrats and financial experts – must sit down together to tackle the crisis that has erupted after the devaluation of the Sri Lankan currency. .
“People in positions of power have to put their party, their race, their religion aside. We have to come together as a nation and deal with it. That’s how I think it should be,” Muralitharan told Zee Media in an exclusive interview.
“Mismanagement is not the only one to blame”
Muralitharan said there are multiple factors that led to cirsis. “There are collective reasons for this. It didn’t happen overnight. It’s pandemic time. Jobs are being lost. Oil prices are going up. Of course there’s also a bad management. But mismanagement isn’t the only thing to blame,” the retired right-hand man bowler said.
“Help from India and China needed”
Muttiah Muralitharan also hoped that Sri Lanka’s neighbors – India and China – would ask for help. “We need help from our neighbors like India and China. Agencies like the IMF,” Muralitharan said.
“The crisis was not built in a day”
Muralitharan added that the current economic crisis did not happen in Sri Lanka in a single day. He said it was still piling up in the country. He added that Sri Lanka is a small economy which has more imports and less exports.
“The dollar crisis has come to Sri Lanka. We have to import a lot of goods. Now the transport costs are going up. What used to be $100 is now going to $700. Energy bills are going up. per day. It’s built and built,” Muralitharan said.
The second part of the interview will be published later today
