Hand over economic management to independent technocrats: SJB MP

By Sanath Nanayakkare

Samagi Jana Balavegaya MP Patali Champika Ranawaka said in Colombo recently that managing the economy of the country should be handed over to a group of independent technocrats.

“The general public and the business people are growing increasingly less confident about the capacity of the political leadership to pull the country out of the current economic crisis. So, the situation calls for the government to turn over the management of the economy to a group chosen through a process that emphasises their relevant skills and proven performance to put the economy back in shape,” Ranawaka said.

The MP said that such technocrats needed to be truly independent and need not just serve the interests of popular politics because if a sovereign default happens, all Sri Lankans, those who voted for the government and those who didn’t, would have to face grave repercussions.

Ranawaka made these comments at an Advocata forum themed, “A National Consensus for Economic Reforms.

Ranawaka said that Sri Lanka has got into a precarious financial situation today where it can’t raise enough capital either in the domestic market or in the international capital market.

“In the next eight months, we have to honour commitments on International Sovereign Bonds and Sri Lanka Development Bonds worth nearly USD $ 3 billion with only USD $ 1.5 billion cash in hand. In this backdrop, Sri Lanka runs the risk of a default and potential bankruptcy at some point. Even if the authorities begin talks on renegotiating and rescheduling of our foreign loans, that would technically mean declaring bankruptcy. When Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa asked the government of India to postpone Sri Lanka’s debt by three years, that also tantamount to acknowledging bankruptcy. If the country hits bankruptcy, it will have a negative impact across the board. It won’t be easy recovering after a default and bankruptcy. It could lead to multiple defaults. Defaults by Argentina on its foreign debt as well as the debt crisis in Greece led to a loss of confidence in their economies. They haven’t recovered fully. They may recover for some time and they falter again. Elections were held in Greece from time to time to resolve the economic issue. Masses elected leaders from the left, centre and right in the political spectrum, but nothing has worked meaningfully. The economic malaise has dragged on for 10 years in Greece. Argentina is no different. If a sovereign debt default occurs in Sri Lanka, we may face a similar situation. It would be unwise to think that when the situation aggravates, it would help the Opposition to come to power. Whoever comes to power, would have to bear the same pain and pressure, so a sovereign default must be averted,” he said.

He said that the government is still not serious about this serious situation.

“Our concern is whether political leaders and responsible authorities are paying the issue the attention it deserves. This crisis can’t be solved by providing each Grama Niladhari division with Rs. 3 million to spend on building rural infrastructure. If a default happens, its negative spillover could see the loss of thousands of jobs triggering a social explosion. The racial and religious tensions which are under wraps could flare up again and foreign investors would try to capitalise on the situation. A fine example for this is; about six months ago the Urban Development Authority put up more than 50 strategic national properties for sale under what was called ‘Selendiva’. It was said that USD 5 billion would be raised from its proceeds. Nevertheless no buyer has made any bids to date. We are often told that USD 3.6 billion is coming from Oman, USD 2.5 billion is coming from some other country and so on. But these have not materialised yet. Why? Everyone has realis-ed that Sri Lanka is on its way towards bankruptcy. And investors know that they can buy these assets for five million dollars once that happens. It is very clear that nobody is coming to buy these assets right now. There are no friends left here for us. In 2019, during our administration, we arranged four investments for the much hyped Port City and the foundation stones were laid. I can tell you that those investments or anything else won’t come to Port City next year. All countries in the world are experiencing varying degrees of volatility and instability as the virus has again plunged the world back into uncertain territory. No friends have been left for us in the midst of it.

“So coming to a national consensus on structural reforms needed to get out of the economic crisis is critical right now. It’s up to the government to show the right signals that it is ready to move along the correct political and fiscal path to get the support of everyone to do it,” he said.