Lack of clarity about debt restructuring, this week triggered some Sri Lankans to rush to their banks withdrawing savings. Reason being, a fear that the Government’s domestic debt restructuring plans, which come in response to the prevailing economic crisis, would affect their savings, especially fixed deposits (FD). The people do not trust neither the Government n0r the banks, especially following recent statements that merely said people’s savings would not get affected in the domestic debt restructuring process, which is a decision yet to be taken during the next few days.

Even though the Government and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) have assured that the people’s savings would not get affected in the said process, in a context where the two parties’ decisions have affected the financial security of the people in the context of the economic crisis, the people are reluctant to trust them. People are not to be blamed. The root cause of this development, the people's sudden tendency to withdraw their savings, shows, is the lack of trust placed on the Government, the relevant authorities and on the banks, and more importantly, the lack of knowledge of what is to take place under the said domestic debt restructuring plans. The only relevant information the general public received was about the Government declaring additional bank holidays, which constitute a five-day bank holiday including the weekend, to smoothen the said debt restructuring process. 

General public’s behaviour is not new. Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020, at a number of occasions, the people took sudden, ill-informed and arbitrary decisions, mostly to get their hands on essentials. It is a behaviour that is driven by the  lack of knowledge on the future context of the socio-economic context. Today, although in a different context, the country is witnessing an almost similar situation. Peoples’ confusion is obvious when observing the large number of social media posts by ordinary citizens questioning and discussing whether their FDs could get affected by “whatever that the Government and the banks are planning to do during the weekend.” Those concerns are a result of a serious absence of publicly available information about the next possible step the Government is to take - an issue, for which the Government is to be blamed. It is also the lack of information that lead to the filing of a fundamental rights (FR) petition seeking an order preventing the Government from waiving off loans obtained from the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) and the Employees’ Trust Fund (ETF) during this current domestic debt restructuring process.

The Government’s intentions are clear. What is not is the impact on the ordinary citizens, and that, undoubtedly,  is the core issue the Government should address. The time is of the essence, as the said process is to commence within the next few days. If the Government, the relevant authorities and the banks expect the people’s cooperation, they should immediately explain to the general public the next step in the domestic debt restructuring process.This could be the best way forward to address the people’s concerns and stem the rush to withdraw their money. The Government should use best media communication methods, especially using social media, to send the information, ensuring the states’ transparency and accountability. 

As certain Opposition politicians have claimed on social media, the next few days might even witness serious public unrest as the people are likely to do anything to protect their saved money. While that is a serious concern to convey, in a context where the lion’s share of the citizenry is struggling to make ends meet with a feeling of uncertainty about the future, an unfriendly response from the people is likely. Sudden withdrawals of money from banks could merely be the beginning of it.

The people are already living in unpleasant living conditions, and bad tidings are not new to them. The Government has no right to hide what is happening in the economic climate from the people. The lack of information about bad developments could cause severe damages. The Government is left with only a few hours to tell the people what changes are to take place under domestic debt restructuring plans.