Incompetence taking center stage in driving the Sri Lankan Economy
Friday, 19 June 2015
When Ranil Wickramasinge took over as the Prime Minister much was expected from the person. People had credited him often for his willingness to ensure good governance and technocracy. His achievements on the economic and political fronts in the last six months have been a disaster for Sri Lanka.
Eran Wickramarathne should have been the right choice for finance ministerial post. Having been a trained economist from LSE and a CEO of a Bank. He would have taken the country on the right course. His other choice Arjuna Mahendran the Central bank governor despite all the baggage he brought with him was appointed governor, what a disaster that appointment has been for the President?
No public official has got so ridiculed in such a short time. He continues regardless. All the government advisors seen in the economic forums are people of the past who as a recent article pointed have come out of retirement to run a government . What a way to run a government, when the world is running at lightening speed and the world has gone upside down with the emergence of a new world driven by technology and science. Surely cant this government get better people from within the country? The President recently ended at a wrong meeting? The results are obvious. The country is in chaos; no investment is taking place due to the uncertainty and the frequent changes in policy at the will of a few people. The outdated super gains tax is thankfully buried by the opposition for good. The government for six months has borrowed Rs 378 Billion in foreign loans. Some of these loans have been borrowed at over 6% percent, way beyond market rates. The infamous Mahendran bond has distorted the interest rates.
We have lost our reserves foolishly defending the Rupee, when the entire country knows it is not sustainable. Very Low interest rates have driven up unnecessary imports resulting in the Lankan import bill going up due to unnecessary consumption. The port city project that was stopped for corruption is now set go again according to newspapers. Government Minister Rajan Ramanayake is accusing his own colleagues about taking money from people accused of corruption to sweep their cases under the carpet and for project approvals. Who are these people? They should be exposed to ensure a level playing field to do business in the country. What is the Minister in charge of the Police doing to bring to book the white-collar criminals of the past regime? So far it has been only a witch-hunt as far as the average voter is concerned, for most of them life has not got better! The President (needs to act as the President) and Prime Minister ( usher in Yahapalanaya with in his ranks) needs to live up to the public expectation, if not they have only themselves to blame at the general election.
