Features
Public enemy number one: Inflation? Accumulation of public debt?
Convict a man for his convictions?
by Usvatte-aratchi
The prosecution of Charles, King of England (and …) on the 20th of January 1649, was led by John Cooke, for whom the trial was ‘not only against one tyrant but against tyranny itself’. “The charge stated that, having been ‘trusted with a limited power to govern by, and according to the laws of the land, and not otherwise’, Charles had engaged in ‘a wicked design to erect and uphold in himself an unlimited and tyrannical power to rule according to his Will, and to overthrow the Rights and Liberties of the People. He had levied war against Parliament and the people it represented, had solicited foreign invasions and renewed the war, all to uphold his own interests and those of his family, against the ‘public interests, common right, liberty, justice and peace of the people of this nation. Thus, Charles was a ‘Tyrant, Traitor and Murderer, and a public and implacable Enemy to the Commonwealth of England.”
‘Then the clerk rose and read out the sentence ….’that the said Charles Stuart, as a Tyrant, Traitor, Murderer and a public enemy, shall be put to death ….’
‘… this was a court that swept away the ‘distinction of quality’, making ‘the greatest lord and the meanest peasant undergo the same judicatory and form of trial’ as each other.’
(p. 253, The Blazing World…’, Jonathan Healey, 2023.)
During the last two months or so, three statements deeply affecting economic policy have come out from the highest authorities in the land: the Supreme Court heard a petition from several citizens regarding the infringement of their fundamental rights by actions or lack thereof on the part of some of the of highest public officers of state and convicted all of them of the alleged infringements; a former president of the republic who also held the portfolio of finance in his governments declared triumphantly that he had reduced taxes year after year from 2010; the Governor of the Central Bank delivered a lecture in the University of Colombo on ‘Inflation- public enemy number one’. All three statements contain elements central to economic policy and more immediately to the present economic crises. Unfortunately, there has been no public discussion of these statements, except on television. In general, the anchors of these programmes on television have not been persons with learning and professional experience in economic policymaking. Nor did they give evidence of being familiar with current writings on economics or economic policy. These observations are truer of the daily newspapers (Sinhala and English) that I read. I lack the energy to discuss these questions adequately. I invite those better equipped to take them up in earnest.
Inflation/stagnating economy
The Governor of the Central Bank, speaking from his high chair, may see inflation as public enemy number one. The Central Bank operates at the short end of the capital market (money market) to keep prices, including the price of other currencies, reasonably stable and the banking system functioning well. In this small economy, keeping the banking system stable has turned out to be unusually difficult. Enterprises have no way of raising long-term capital in the absence of a functioning share market, long-term lending institutions or personal funds pooled together for the purpose. Prior to the introduction of the principle of limited liability (Laws were enacted in Britain in 1844), wealthy persons pooled their resources and ran large-scale operations (East India Company). But railways, telephone systems, later shipping companies and oil companies, became far too large to be financed and managed in that manner. Last century, as individual inventors came out with innovations that would become the foundation of large enterprises bringing in huge revenues in a short while but were highly risky, a new source of capital emerged: venture capital. In our economy, some of the richest people cannot openly invest their funds because their wealth has been accumulated in breach of the law. Even before black money came to darken the prospects for the development of a capital market, the skies were gloomy.
The rollover of short-term loans and advances from commercial banks has been a long-term feature of the way firms (except plantation companies which sold their shares in the London Stock Exchange) satisfied their long-term capital needs. (I vaguely recollect that N Ramachandran of the Central Bank wrote a paper on this in the 1960s.) When the market for their output collapses, borrowers cannot service their short-term loans and seek another roll over, the banking system becomes unstable. When banks quite properly prosecute errant borrowers in court, the owners go on television to blame the banks and the government. Relatively large companies finance their activities by withholding taxes payable to the government. The unpaid taxes, running into several hundred million rupees, become interest-free long-term loans from the government (taxpayers) to those enterprises. Recourse to law is an essential part of how economies function. The Central Bank cannot lend to banks to extend credit to enterprises. Solutions must be sought elsewhere.
It is difficult enough to project prices for 12 months and central bankers who predict prices for five years (Recall the 2007-2008 market crash.) must be bonkers. Central banks have instruments to intervene in the short-term market to stabilize the economy. Managing the public debt and the employees’ provident funds is none of its legitimate business, though acts of Parliament may make it legal. The Central Bank has no instruments to promote economic growth and development. But it can ruin the march to economic progress by messing up the short-term functioning of markets. Yet, the long run in which economic growth takes place is not a succession of short runs for the policymaker. The Central Bank had better dwell on the short end.
My understanding is that the public enemy number one in this economy is its stagnation. Look at the results of government policies and the behaviour of ‘absent entrepreneurs. After all, in this country, the government sector has rarely exceeded 30 percent of the total economy. If the economy has not grown, the heavier responsibility lies with private sector entrepreneurs. A newspaper publisher, owners of a few passenger transport companies, branches of a few multinational companies and a few retailers did not make an indigenous capitalist class.
In elementary terms, economies function with labour and capital. Economies grow when the employment of labour and capital increases. [(Those familiar with the economic history of England may recall trends after the Black Death (latter half of the 14th century) there.)] Labour is a complex input as capital is. A taxi driver is not the same input as a designer of a motor vehicle; a data entry clerk is not the same provider of labour as a designer of a robot. A spade, a capital good, is very different from a fast computer, another capital good. A combined harvester is very different from a woman with a scythe in Minneriya, though both may engage in agricultural operations. Economic growth takes place when labour and capital grow and when workers become highly productive with the use of advanced capital. Look at what has happened in Sri Lanka. From about 1960 to 2000, Sri Lanka has had a gift of a youthful population as China has had from somewhat later and as India and most of Africa still have. They have used that ‘population dividend’ to grow rapidly. In addition, Sri Lanka has had a healthy, literate young population. About a quarter of that potential work force has emigrated. Highly skilled workers among them flew away periodically, as they do now. The consequence has been that a healthy, literate and skilled labour force has been gifted to the workforce of other countries. The gross domestic output of the UAE, Greece, South Korea and the United Kingdom have grown faster and that of Sri Lanka has stagnated.
If your concern were with the gross domestic output of the world that is fine but if your concern were with the GDP of Sri Lanka, these movements of population created problems. With gross mismanagement of the economy, they sum to crises. The estimate of the Statistics Department that the unemployment rate in Sri Lanka is 4%, (giving statistics a bad name) hides the reality that 20% of the labour force (labour force comes from demography and work force from economics.) left the country to join the workforce of other countries. A more realistic number would be that 25% of the labour force was unemployed and that 20% of the labour force emigrated, leaving 4% of the work force unemployed in this country. By the middle of the 1960s, South Korea was as poor as we were and its rising labour force faced unemployment. (Recall the ‘Saemaul Undong’ movement). Now, it is a regular importer of unemployed educated young labour from this country. Two factors were responsible for this divergence. There was no class of entrepreneurs who sought new technology and large and expanding markets overseas. And we were governed by a class of people who excelled in plundering the public wealth rather than promoting economic growth. Individuals and families that rose from rags to riches in one generation were those who plundered the public purse, in diverse ways, rather than innovating entrepreneurs. These are public enemies number one in this society. (Thomas Stockton was not; Peter Stockman was an enemy of society. [Henrik Ibsen].)
Government expenditure without taxation
It was shocking that a former President and Finance Minister, in a press statement a few days back, triumphantly declared that he had reduced taxation from 2010 to 2014. Indeed, he was not the only Finance Minister in the country who betrayed its interests by failing to raise tax revenue to pay for rising government expenditure. Anyone interested in the figures can easily access them in the Annual Reports of the Central Bank. If you raise government expenditure and reduce government revenue, you drive your society to a crisis. When that economy is one highly dependent on imports, even for its mere survival, and a government fails to implement policies that promote exports and there are no enterprises that earn foreign exchange, there is a balance of payments crisis. Hence the economic crises that we suffer from. The choke points were designed by government policymakers and ‘absent entrepreneurs. They are public enemies of this society.
Convict convictions
In November, the Supreme Court distinguished itself by convicting seven people, who, several citizens had petitioned the court, had violated their fundamental rights. (It is useful to remember that the court comprised not merely the judges but also counsel who were officers of the court.) Many had come to believe that several of the respondents in that case were above the law. The Supreme Court, to our delight, gave life to Dr. Thomas Fuller’s 1753 dictum that ‘Be ye never so high, the Law is above you’.
However, that ennobling decision gave rise to a conundrum, entirely outside the court and solely in my mind. Economics is not physics; economists’ attitudes to policy vary with the culture in which they grew up, where they were schooled (‘freshwater schools’ or ‘saltwater’ schools in the US) and what history they had read. An Englishman who had read about Hitler’s atrocities in Germany may have a predilection to dislike ‘etatism’. An economist who grew up in Peradeniya from about 1957 to about 1970, had a good chance of disapproving neo-liberalist economic policies. IMF policies from about 1990 were associated with neo-liberal economics, the Washington Consensus. To construct a hypothetical case: if an economist who disapproves of IMF policies happens to be in a place of high responsibility for economic policymaking, he/she faces a dilemma. A wise choice is to refuse to seek appointment to such a position. But men/women are ambitious. There is a responsibility falling on those who appoint him/her to make sure that the prospective appointee is vetted for his/her attitudes to pending centrally important questions so as to avoid creating a dilemma for the appointed person and an embarrassment for the government. The appointee has a second choice: resign from his /her position when he /she learns of the imminent dilemma. If, however, a person continues to remain in that high position, and those with the authority fail to remove him from office, it is fair to assume that those who appointed him concurred with the appointee’s approach to policies. And, indeed, it may be that such confluence of attitudes, determined that that particular person was appointed. Does his conduct amount to behaviour that denies fundamental rights of other citizens? If it does, what happens to his fundamental right to live by his convictions? He is not crying ‘fire’ in a crowded theatre. God exists; God exists not. Is such a citizen an enemy of the people? Cannot a citizen live by his convictions but be convicted?
by Dr Gotabhya Ranasinghe
Senior Consultant Cardiologist
National Hospital Sri Lanka
When we sought a meeting with Hon Dr. Ramesh Pathirana, Minister of Health, he graciously cleared his busy schedule to accommodate us. Renowned for his attentive listening and deep understanding, Minister Pathirana is dedicated to advancing the health sector. His openness and transparency exemplify the qualities of an exemplary politician and minister.
Dr. Palitha Mahipala, the current Health Secretary, demonstrates both commendable enthusiasm and unwavering support. This combination of attributes makes him a highly compatible colleague for the esteemed Minister of Health.
Our discussion centered on a project that has been in the works for the past 30 years, one that no other minister had managed to advance.
Minister Pathirana, however, recognized the project’s significance and its potential to revolutionize care for heart patients.
The project involves the construction of a state-of-the-art facility at the premises of the National Hospital Colombo. The project’s location within the premises of the National Hospital underscores its importance and relevance to the healthcare infrastructure of the nation.
This facility will include a cardiology building and a tertiary care center, equipped with the latest technology to handle and treat all types of heart-related conditions and surgeries.
Securing funding was a major milestone for this initiative. Minister Pathirana successfully obtained approval for a $40 billion loan from the Asian Development Bank. With the funding in place, the foundation stone is scheduled to be laid in September this year, and construction will begin in January 2025.
This project guarantees a consistent and uninterrupted supply of stents and related medications for heart patients. As a result, patients will have timely access to essential medical supplies during their treatment and recovery. By securing these critical resources, the project aims to enhance patient outcomes, minimize treatment delays, and maintain the highest standards of cardiac care.
Upon its fruition, this monumental building will serve as a beacon of hope and healing, symbolizing the unwavering dedication to improving patient outcomes and fostering a healthier society.We anticipate a future marked by significant progress and positive outcomes in Sri Lanka’s cardiovascular treatment landscape within the foreseeable timeframe.
by Fr. Emmanuel Fernando, OMI
Jesuit Fr. Aloysius Pieris (affectionately called Fr. Aloy) celebrated his 90th birthday on April 9, 2024 and I, as the editor of our Oblate Journal, THE MISSIONARY OBLATE had gone to press by that time. Immediately I decided to publish an article, appreciating the untiring selfless services he continues to offer for inter-Faith dialogue, the renewal of the Catholic Church, his concern for the poor and the suffering Sri Lankan masses and to me, the present writer.
It was in 1988, when I was appointed Director of the Oblate Scholastics at Ampitiya by the then Oblate Provincial Fr. Anselm Silva, that I came to know Fr. Aloy more closely. Knowing well his expertise in matters spiritual, theological, Indological and pastoral, and with the collaborative spirit of my companion-formators, our Oblate Scholastics were sent to Tulana, the Research and Encounter Centre, Kelaniya, of which he is the Founder-Director, for ‘exposure-programmes’ on matters spiritual, biblical, theological and pastoral. Some of these dimensions according to my view and that of my companion-formators, were not available at the National Seminary, Ampitiya.
Ever since that time, our Oblate formators/ accompaniers at the Oblate Scholasticate, Ampitiya , have continued to send our Oblate Scholastics to Tulana Centre for deepening their insights and convictions regarding matters needed to serve the people in today’s context. Fr. Aloy also had tried very enthusiastically with the Oblate team headed by Frs. Oswald Firth and Clement Waidyasekara to begin a Theologate, directed by the Religious Congregations in Sri Lanka, for the contextual formation/ accompaniment of their members. It should very well be a desired goal of the Leaders / Provincials of the Religious Congregations.
Besides being a formator/accompanier at the Oblate Scholasticate, I was entrusted also with the task of editing and publishing our Oblate journal, ‘The Missionary Oblate’. To maintain the quality of the journal I continue to depend on Fr. Aloy for his thought-provoking and stimulating articles on Biblical Spirituality, Biblical Theology and Ecclesiology. I am very grateful to him for his generous assistance. Of late, his writings on renewal of the Church, initiated by Pope St. John XX111 and continued by Pope Francis through the Synodal path, published in our Oblate journal, enable our readers to focus their attention also on the needed renewal in the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka. Fr. Aloy appreciated very much the Synodal path adopted by the Jesuit Pope Francis for the renewal of the Church, rooted very much on prayerful discernment. In my Religious and presbyteral life, Fr.Aloy continues to be my spiritual animator / guide and ongoing formator / acccompanier.
Fr. Aloysius Pieris, BA Hons (Lond), LPh (SHC, India), STL (PFT, Naples), PhD (SLU/VC), ThD (Tilburg), D.Ltt (KU), has been one of the eminent Asian theologians well recognized internationally and one who has lectured and held visiting chairs in many universities both in the West and in the East. Many members of Religious Congregations from Asian countries have benefited from his lectures and guidance in the East Asian Pastoral Institute (EAPI) in Manila, Philippines. He had been a Theologian consulted by the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences for many years. During his professorship at the Gregorian University in Rome, he was called to be a member of a special group of advisers on other religions consulted by Pope Paul VI.
Fr. Aloy is the author of more than 30 books and well over 500 Research Papers. Some of his books and articles have been translated and published in several countries. Among those books, one can find the following: 1) The Genesis of an Asian Theology of Liberation (An Autobiographical Excursus on the Art of Theologising in Asia, 2) An Asian Theology of Liberation, 3) Providential Timeliness of Vatican 11 (a long-overdue halt to a scandalous millennium, 4) Give Vatican 11 a chance, 5) Leadership in the Church, 6) Relishing our faith in working for justice (Themes for study and discussion), 7) A Message meant mainly, not exclusively for Jesuits (Background information necessary for helping Francis renew the Church), 8) Lent in Lanka (Reflections and Resolutions, 9) Love meets wisdom (A Christian Experience of Buddhism, 10) Fire and Water 11) God’s Reign for God’s poor, 12) Our Unhiddden Agenda (How we Jesuits work, pray and form our men). He is also the Editor of two journals, Vagdevi, Journal of Religious Reflection and Dialogue, New Series.
Fr. Aloy has a BA in Pali and Sanskrit from the University of London and a Ph.D in Buddhist Philosophy from the University of Sri Lankan, Vidyodaya Campus. On Nov. 23, 2019, he was awarded the prestigious honorary Doctorate of Literature (D.Litt) by the Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya, the Most Venerable Welamitiyawe Dharmakirthi Sri Kusala Dhamma Thera.
Fr. Aloy continues to be a promoter of Gospel values and virtues. Justice as a constitutive dimension of love and social concern for the downtrodden masses are very much noted in his life and work. He had very much appreciated the commitment of the late Fr. Joseph (Joe) Fernando, the National Director of the Social and Economic Centre (SEDEC) for the poor.
In Sri Lanka, a few religious Congregations – the Good Shepherd Sisters, the Christian Brothers, the Marist Brothers and the Oblates – have invited him to animate their members especially during their Provincial Congresses, Chapters and International Conferences. The mainline Christian Churches also have sought his advice and followed his seminars. I, for one, regret very much, that the Sri Lankan authorities of the Catholic Church –today’s Hierarchy—- have not sought Fr.
Aloy’s expertise for the renewal of the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka and thus have not benefited from the immense store of wisdom and insight that he can offer to our local Church while the Sri Lankan bishops who governed the Catholic church in the immediate aftermath of the Second Vatican Council (Edmund Fernando OMI, Anthony de Saram, Leo Nanayakkara OSB, Frank Marcus Fernando, Paul Perera,) visited him and consulted him on many matters. Among the Tamil Bishops, Bishop Rayappu Joseph was keeping close contact with him and Bishop J. Deogupillai hosted him and his team visiting him after the horrible Black July massacre of Tamils.
Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement
By Gomi Senadhira
senadhiragomi@gmail.com
“You might tell fairy tales, but the progress of a country cannot be achieved through such narratives. A country cannot be developed by making false promises. The country moved backward because of the electoral promises made by political parties throughout time. We have witnessed that the ultimate result of this is the country becoming bankrupt. Unfortunately, many segments of the population have not come to realize this yet.” – President Ranil Wickremesinghe, 2024 Budget speech
Any Sri Lankan would agree with the above words of President Wickremesinghe on the false promises our politicians and officials make and the fairy tales they narrate which bankrupted this country. So, to understand this, let’s look at one such fairy tale with lots of false promises; Ranil Wickremesinghe’s greatest achievement in the area of international trade and investment promotion during the Yahapalana period, Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (SLSFTA).
It is appropriate and timely to do it now as Finance Minister Wickremesinghe has just presented to parliament a bill on the National Policy on Economic Transformation which includes the establishment of an Office for International Trade and the Sri Lanka Institute of Economics and International Trade.
Was SLSFTA a “Cleverly negotiated Free Trade Agreement” as stated by the (former) Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama during the Parliamentary Debate on the SLSFTA in July 2018, or a colossal blunder covered up with lies, false promises, and fairy tales? After SLSFTA was signed there were a number of fairy tales published on this agreement by the Ministry of Development Strategies and International, Institute of Policy Studies, and others.
However, for this article, I would like to limit my comments to the speech by Minister Samarawickrama during the Parliamentary Debate, and the two most important areas in the agreement which were covered up with lies, fairy tales, and false promises, namely: revenue loss for Sri Lanka and Investment from Singapore. On the other important area, “Waste products dumping” I do not want to comment here as I have written extensively on the issue.
1. The revenue loss
During the Parliamentary Debate in July 2018, Minister Samarawickrama stated “…. let me reiterate that this FTA with Singapore has been very cleverly negotiated by us…. The liberalisation programme under this FTA has been carefully designed to have the least impact on domestic industry and revenue collection. We have included all revenue sensitive items in the negative list of items which will not be subject to removal of tariff. Therefore, 97.8% revenue from Customs duty is protected. Our tariff liberalisation will take place over a period of 12-15 years! In fact, the revenue earned through tariffs on goods imported from Singapore last year was Rs. 35 billion.
The revenue loss for over the next 15 years due to the FTA is only Rs. 733 million– which when annualised, on average, is just Rs. 51 million. That is just 0.14% per year! So anyone who claims the Singapore FTA causes revenue loss to the Government cannot do basic arithmetic! Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, I call on my fellow members of this House – don’t mislead the public with baseless criticism that is not grounded in facts. Don’t look at petty politics and use these issues for your own political survival.”
I was surprised to read the minister’s speech because an article published in January 2018 in “The Straits Times“, based on information released by the Singaporean Negotiators stated, “…. With the FTA, tariff savings for Singapore exports are estimated to hit $10 million annually“.
As the annual tariff savings (that is the revenue loss for Sri Lanka) calculated by the Singaporean Negotiators, Singaporean $ 10 million (Sri Lankan rupees 1,200 million in 2018) was way above the rupees’ 733 million revenue loss for 15 years estimated by the Sri Lankan negotiators, it was clear to any observer that one of the parties to the agreement had not done the basic arithmetic!
Six years later, according to a report published by “The Morning” newspaper, speaking at the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) on 7th May 2024, Mr Samarawickrama’s chief trade negotiator K.J. Weerasinghehad had admitted “…. that forecasted revenue loss for the Government of Sri Lanka through the Singapore FTA is Rs. 450 million in 2023 and Rs. 1.3 billion in 2024.”
If these numbers are correct, as tariff liberalisation under the SLSFTA has just started, we will pass Rs 2 billion very soon. Then, the question is how Sri Lanka’s trade negotiators made such a colossal blunder. Didn’t they do their basic arithmetic? If they didn’t know how to do basic arithmetic they should have at least done their basic readings. For example, the headline of the article published in The Straits Times in January 2018 was “Singapore, Sri Lanka sign FTA, annual savings of $10m expected”.
Anyway, as Sri Lanka’s chief negotiator reiterated at the COPF meeting that “…. since 99% of the tariffs in Singapore have zero rates of duty, Sri Lanka has agreed on 80% tariff liberalisation over a period of 15 years while expecting Singapore investments to address the imbalance in trade,” let’s turn towards investment.
Investment from Singapore
In July 2018, speaking during the Parliamentary Debate on the FTA this is what Minister Malik Samarawickrama stated on investment from Singapore, “Already, thanks to this FTA, in just the past two-and-a-half months since the agreement came into effect we have received a proposal from Singapore for investment amounting to $ 14.8 billion in an oil refinery for export of petroleum products. In addition, we have proposals for a steel manufacturing plant for exports ($ 1 billion investment), flour milling plant ($ 50 million), sugar refinery ($ 200 million). This adds up to more than $ 16.05 billion in the pipeline on these projects alone.
And all of these projects will create thousands of more jobs for our people. In principle approval has already been granted by the BOI and the investors are awaiting the release of land the environmental approvals to commence the project.
I request the Opposition and those with vested interests to change their narrow-minded thinking and join us to develop our country. We must always look at what is best for the whole community, not just the few who may oppose. We owe it to our people to courageously take decisions that will change their lives for the better.”
According to the media report I quoted earlier, speaking at the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) Chief Negotiator Weerasinghe has admitted that Sri Lanka was not happy with overall Singapore investments that have come in the past few years in return for the trade liberalisation under the Singapore-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement. He has added that between 2021 and 2023 the total investment from Singapore had been around $162 million!
What happened to those projects worth $16 billion negotiated, thanks to the SLSFTA, in just the two-and-a-half months after the agreement came into effect and approved by the BOI? I do not know about the steel manufacturing plant for exports ($ 1 billion investment), flour milling plant ($ 50 million) and sugar refinery ($ 200 million).
However, story of the multibillion-dollar investment in the Petroleum Refinery unfolded in a manner that would qualify it as the best fairy tale with false promises presented by our politicians and the officials, prior to 2019 elections.
Though many Sri Lankans got to know, through the media which repeatedly highlighted a plethora of issues surrounding the project and the questionable credentials of the Singaporean investor, the construction work on the Mirrijiwela Oil Refinery along with the cement factory began on the24th of March 2019 with a bang and Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his ministers along with the foreign and local dignitaries laid the foundation stones.
That was few months before the 2019 Presidential elections. Inaugurating the construction work Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the projects will create thousands of job opportunities in the area and surrounding districts.
The oil refinery, which was to be built over 200 acres of land, with the capacity to refine 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day, was to generate US$7 billion of exports and create 1,500 direct and 3,000 indirect jobs. The construction of the refinery was to be completed in 44 months. Four years later, in August 2023 the Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal presented by President Ranil Wickremesinghe to cancel the agreement with the investors of the refinery as the project has not been implemented! Can they explain to the country how much money was wasted to produce that fairy tale?
It is obvious that the President, ministers, and officials had made huge blunders and had deliberately misled the public and the parliament on the revenue loss and potential investment from SLSFTA with fairy tales and false promises.
As the president himself said, a country cannot be developed by making false promises or with fairy tales and these false promises and fairy tales had bankrupted the country. “Unfortunately, many segments of the population have not come to realize this yet”.
(The writer, a specialist and an activist on trade and development issues . )
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