The state minister of defense has stated that Sri Lanka will reduce its army by a third to 135,000 personnel next year and 100,000 by 2030 as the country tries to cut costs in the face of its worst economic crisis in more than seven decades.
Premitha Bandara Thennakoon stated in a statement on Friday that “military spending is basically state-borne expenditure” that “assures national and human security” and “indirectly stimulates and opens avenues for economic growth.”
The 22 million people who live on the island are still reeling from months of food and fuel shortages that made their daily lives miserable last year.
In response to the government’s debt default, President Ranil Wickremesinghe has increased taxes and slashed spending severely to facilitate the anticipated IMF bailout.
The defense ministry of Sri Lanka has announced that it will retire 65,000 soldiers from its 200,000-strong army over the course of the year. The armed forces of Sri Lanka are the next to be eliminated.
Plans to reduce Sri Lanka’s land forces to 100,000 by the end of the decade include the majority of the cuts.
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‘Well-balanced defence force’
The minister stated, “A technically and tactically sound and well-balanced defense force is the overall aim of the strategic blueprint.”
More than a decade after the tragic ethnic civil war in Sri Lanka came to an end, the country’s armed forces remain bloated.
In 2009, when the government crushed the Tamil Tigers separatist movement in a no-holds-barred offensive that resulted in the deaths of thousands of civilians, the military had nearly 400,000 members at its peak.
Expert analysts say that security force personnel’s pay makes up half of the government’s salary bill, and defense accounted for nearly 10% of public spending last year.
Despite significant tax increases at the beginning of the year, Sri Lanka warned this week that it had barely enough revenue to pay public employees and pensions.
The public endured prolonged blackouts, long gasoline lines, empty supermarket shelves, and raging inflation, all of which contributed to the estimated 8.7 percent annual economic contraction.
The crisis reached its zenith in July when enraged protesters stormed Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s official residence, prompting him to temporarily leave the country and offer his resignation abroad.
Source: AFP