The Unique Difference In Economic Governance: President Got It!
By Hema Senanayake –October 3, 2015
Hema Senanayake
All good hopes will be dashed if the good-governance government failed in economic governance. Establishing democracy is good but it is not everything; people hope for better economic governance too. In New York, I just got two minutes to explain this to President Maithripala Sirisena in a formal event when he was in New York in order to attend the United Nation’s General Assembly. He was so attentive and quite a few times nodded in assenting during my speech. Hence, for the readers benefit I submit below the near exact translation of my statement. It is as follows:
“… Your Excellency President, Honorable Ministers, Ambassador, distinguished guests and friends.
The Sri Lankan community in New York is keenly interested in the governance of Sri Lanka. As far as we know there are two segments in governance. The work or duties in the first segment can be done through the frame work of democratic process. The work which falls into the second segment cannot be executed only through the democratic process; and this is the segment of economic governance. This is an important segment – And what is applicable here is the theoretical and technical expertise of the officials –elected or appointed- who execute the macroeconomic policies.
For an example, the rupee is depreciating now. The value of one U.S. dollar has now exceeded Rs.140. There is no democratic procedure to bring it to a reasonable value. This can only be done by officials who have high economic expertise.
Who is the official who has high level economic expertise? I might be able to give you a clue on this question. As at now the largest economies have become the most indebted economies in the world. For an example the public debt in Japan is 230% of GDP. In the USA this ratio exceeds 100%. Europe is no different except a few countries.
Therefore, the person who can accurately explain as to why the largest economies in the world have at the same time be regarded as the countries with highest public debt, is a person who has the best macroeconomic technical expertise.
Dear Mr. President unfortunately, the true excellence for macroeconomic know-how is not pursued within the formal economic establishments including International Monetary Fund. This is happening outside the establishments. The real challenge is to bring this know-how into the segment of economic governance. In this regard, the secretariat you proposed to coordinate with intellectuals – expatriate or local- will be very useful for the country. Thank you all” (Statement Ends) Read More
