World News | Sri Lankan Trade Unions Warn Government of Nationwide Strike if Tax Hikes Not Withdrawn

Colombo, Feb 22 (PTI) Around 40 trade unions belonging to various sectors on Wednesday urged the debt-ridden Sri Lankan government to withdraw its tax hikes and warned of holding a nationwide strike on March 1 if their demands were met.

The warning from the trade unions from sectors such as ports, power, electricity, water, and telecommunications among others came as they took part in an hour-long protest on Wednesday to show solidarity against the problems faced by businesses due to tax hikes.

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“We have been protesting continuously. We are telling President Ranil Wickremesinghe that we will be launching one-day strike action on March 1,” Niroshan Gorakanage, a port trade unionist, said.

Ranjan Jayalal, an electricity trade unionist, said: "We are here to protest the Tax Act. Electricity consumers are burdened with high tariffs. We will defeat this government.

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They said the workers will wear black armbands during the week to protest the higher taxes.

The Sri Lankan government introduced tax hikes with effect from January widely believed to be on demand by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Sri Lanka was hit by an unprecedented financial crisis in 2022, the worst since its independence from Britain in 1948, due to a severe paucity of foreign exchange reserves, sparking political turmoil in the country which led to the ouster of the all-powerful Rajapaksa family.

The IMF in September last year approved Sri Lanka a 2.9 billion dollar bailout package over 4 years pending Sri Lanka's ability to restructure its debt with creditors -- both bilateral and sovereign bondholders.

With assurances from creditors, the 2.9 billion dollar facility could get the IMF board approval in March.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has said he was aware of the burden placed on people by higher taxes but the high taxes are part of the rescue operation of the Sri Lankan economy.

As the trade unionists took to the streets against tax hikes, civil society groups demonstrated opposite the Elections Commission against the alleged government plan to postpone the March 9 local election.

“We warn the government and the elections commission that attempts to postpone the election must be stopped,” Manoj Gamage, an activist, said.

Although no formal decision has been announced on the postponement of the election, statements from the government indicate that they could be due to the financial hardships caused by the ongoing economic crisis.

The secretary to the Treasury had earlier informed the highest court that the government was seriously curtailed by the lack of finances.

The Supreme Court is to take up on Thursday a petition which called for the postponement of the poll.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)