Colombo, June 10: Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga's party today vowed to re-negotiate foreign aid amounting to 4.5 billion dollars secured by her cohabitation government at an international donors meet in Tokyo. The People's Alliance (PA), the country's main opposition, said the money received by Sri Lanka was "90 per cent loans" that would lead the country into a "debt trap" and cause economic chaos.

"The 4.5 billion the government says it has got is not some gift from Santa Claus," party spokesman Sarath Amunugama told reporters here. "People of this country will have to pay it back. We warn that we will renegotiate these agreements when we come to power."
"We will be looking for alternate plan to develop the country and we will not be bound to world bank development models which are nothing but throwing good money after bad," he said.

The PA would follow an inward-looking policy of improving local agriculture, fisheries and export industries, Amunugama said, adding that they were developing a new economic model with their emerging partner, the marxist JVP -- or People's Liberation Front, to revive local industries.
The Tokyo conference was hosted by the Japanese government as a sign of support to the island's Norwegian-backed peace process.

Bureau Report