In a statement, the British Tamil Forum stressed to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that Sri Lanka’s exorbitant defence spending is “unjustifiable” and worsens both the political and economic crisis the island faces.

Examining the data they display that military spending in Sri Lanka after the armed conflict, from 2010 to 2019, exceeds the total expenditure across the armed conflict period. From 2010 to 2019, Sri Lanka spent $17.28 billion dollars compared to the $14.92 billion spent across the armed conflict. In October 2021, Sri Lanka's Ministry of Finance presented its Appropriation Bill for 2022 with the largest allocation, 12.3% is allocated to the Ministry of Defence.

Source: World Bank

The size of the military has also expanded from a size of 223,000 officials at the end of the war to 317,000 as of 2018.

Source: World Bank

“We urge the International Monitory Fund (IMF) to take preliminary actions to stress Sri Lanka to demilitarise North and East of the island for relieving Tamil people from undue suppression caused by the occupying forces and to reduce unwarranted military deployment as a step forward to mitigate surging national expenditure” maintained BTF.

BTF’s statement comes as Sri Lanka faces a dire economic crisis with severe shortages across the island in basic goods such as food, fuel, and medicines. Sri Lanka must now pay $7 billion in debt and interest payments by the end of the year with a sum of $1billion due in July. This comes as Sri Lanka’s foreign currency reserves have dwindled and the country has had no access to no access to global credit markets for two years.

In March 2021 the Oakland Institute report revealed that despite the government having repeatedly maintained that the LTTE poses no threat to national security, land grabs and the military occupation of the North-East have accelerated in recent years. According to their estimates, there is approximately one soldier for every six civilians in the North-East. This the report states, is to keep “the population in the North-East under constant repression and intimidation”.

BTF further slammed corruption in Sri Lanka stating:

“It is imperative to carry out a financial audit not only for defence procurements but also on fertiliser deals, 2014 Tsunami donations and any compensation paid for oil leaks, by questioning how Sri Lankan politicians came to own their wealth in the form of properties limited to Sri Lanka but also in foreign countries”.

Read the full statement here.