Sri Lanka’s crisis, according to Mahinda Rajapaksa, is the result of “foreign forces.”

Two-time President and former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa blamed “foreign forces” and the former government for Sri Lanka’s economic collapse on Tuesday while admitting that their ousted administration made “some wrong decisions.”

Mr. Mahinda told Parliament during the second reading of the Budget presented by President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is also the Finance Minister, that foreign powers “eyeing Sri Lanka’s national assets” and their “local agents” who were “still active” were fueling anti-government protests. “They were the ones who funded the protests in the country.” Their actions have an impact on the tourism sector, which has recently begun to recover,” Mr. Mahinda said, describing Mr. Wickremesinghe’s crucial, crisis-time Budget as a “giant leap” toward economic stabilization.

Mr. Wickremesinghe was elected President in July this year in a parliamentary vote in which the Rajapaksas’ party, which held a majority in the House, supported him after mass public protests deposed Mr. Gotabaya in the aftermath of an unprecedented economic crisis. Citizens accused the Rajapaksa clan, which held all important positions in government, of presiding over the country’s disastrous financial crash through poor policy choices, corruption, indiscriminate borrowing, and a refusal to correct course despite experts’ warnings. 

The Rajapaksa administration’s explanation, citing the pandemic’s aftermath and the policies of the former Maithripala Sirisena-Ranil Wickremesinghe government, did not appease angry protesters, who forced Mr. Gotabaya, then Prime Minister Mr. Mahinda, then Finance Minister and another ruling sibling Basil Rajapaksa, and the entire Cabinet to resign.