SL plagued with a lame duck government, says former CB deputy governor
The Sri Lankan government at present is made up of “birds – ostrich, lame duck and icarus while seeking to take a flamingo flight without addressing its own weaknesses”, says W.A Wijewardena, former deputy governor of the Central Bank.
Addressing a gathering of experts in the logistics sector on ‘Sri Lanka’s competitiveness in the region – the next Asian tiger in the making or do we remain a small miracle?’ organised by the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport recently at the National Chamber of Commerce in Sri Lanka, Mr. Wijewardena made this comment.
He said, “The government acts like an ostrich because it’s defending wrong government action tooth and nail when they are crystal clear to the rest of the world. Incapacitated government through its own in-fights, lack of consensus, internal communication and clear cut direction makes it a lame duck government. It behaves as an icarus government by burning its own fingers doing everything in the wrong way.”
Mr. Wijewardena stated that Sri Lanka needs to make four quantum leaps within a short period moving out from the typical rural agro-based society to the fourth industrial revolution.
Any economy in the world has to go through competitiveness, he stressed. “Sri Lanka’s future prosperity depends on its economic integration to the external world which involves the promotion of export of goods and services.” The country is also faced with the challenge of beating the middle income country trap and competitive superiority as its key facilitator, he added.
Citing some figures from the 2016 Central Bank Annual Report, he stated that it’s not a very happy story for the country. The real economic growth, the per capita income and the overall trade deficit have decreased in 2016 than 2015 while the GDP, domestic savings investment gap, current account balance and government debt have increased in 2016 against 2015, noted Mr. Wijewardena. He also stressed that the total foreign reserves and the foreign reserves have decreased rapidly till April 2017 while the dollar exchange rate has increased.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has projected an economic growth of 7 per cent per annum while the GDP is to increase by eight times by 2045 enabling Sri Lanka to become a rich country, he added.
Mr. Wijewardena, elaborating on the economic reforms mentioned that the economic system has to be deregulated making it easy for the private sector to do business, modernise revenue generating agencies of the government and the banking sector to maintain stability without being a burden on taxpayers. “Make private sector move the country forward by having consistent and transparent polices and making the tax system simple, predictable and universal,” he added.
Introduce measures to improve productivity and efficiency using both human and physical capital through introduction of technology, development of relevant human capital, encourage research, development and application and emulate and adapt global best practices, he stated.
Mr. Wijewardena noted that state owned enterprises are loss-making whereas the public sector has to be made efficient. “There is no communication by the government to the public as to why policies are implemented,” he stressed.
Relevant education for young upcoming millennial matters for economic growth, noted Mr. Wijewardena while stating that the culture of people’s lifestyle has to change with new technology and innovation that are taking place around the world. Private universities should be given equal rights and opportunities like state-owned universities, he added.
For Sri Lanka to look at a way forward, take a stock of the state of human capital development and the quality of the facilitating logistical services. Get into an economic policy capsule with participation of politicians, bureaucrats, academia and civil society organisations, map out strategy for developing the talent pool of the country needed by 2025, 2035 and 2045. Sign off the strategy with time bound key performance indices to monitor progress, rectify deviations and plan out for emerging developments, he stated.