A few years ago, an American politician made an interesting observation. He noted: “We have been conditioned to think that only politicians can solve our problems. But at some point, we will wake up and recognise that it was the politicians who created our problems.” One of America’s most eminent neurosurgeons and later a contender for the Republican presidential nomination, ending up as President Donald Trump’s Housing Secretary, Ben Carson certainly knew what he was talking about when he made the comment during a television interview in 2016.
For a minute, one cannot help but wonder whether Sri Lanka was on Carson’s mind because our entire political structure – from the Pradeshiya Sabha to the presidency – is rooted on that premise: ‘If you want your problems solved, elect so and so.’ Sri Lanka in the past 74 years of independence has had more than its share of problems, all of which, except for natural disasters, have been created by our own politicians with a little help from foreign manipulators. Having created issues from religious and ethnic conflicts to mega-scale corruption and destruction of national wealth and livelihoods to financial mismanagement to whatever else, at the root of it all will invariably be a politician and a failed policy.
It can be safely said that even though great strides have been made in the recent past, mainly through personal upheaval with regard to voter awareness, the average elector is still a long way off from “waking up and recognising” that it is they themselves and no one else who has brought upon this misfortune in a country that lacks nothing in terms of natural assets except oil and gas. The ‘power at any cost’ brand of politics coupled with a greedy bunch of politicians who have shown a shocking lack of foresight and integrity, save a few, must be held responsible for the plight that the country finds itself in today – reduced to a beggarly status despite pretentions otherwise.
Seventy-four years of playing pandu (ball) with critical issues have now come to a head in the form of a monumental financial crisis that has left the country in the doldrums with no other choice than to beg for even the most essential supplies. When politicians speak of national security, they tend to forget that beggars cannot be choosers and are at the mercy of the benefactors who are now lining up to put rice on our plates and fuel in our vehicles. With time will come the inevitable arm twisting in lieu of the assistance provided and the first casualty of such manoeuvring will be our sovereignty.
In 1952, when the Sri Lanka-China Rubber Rice Pact was signed, this country was facing an almost identical issue as it is facing now with rice production falling sharply and the Government not having the required foreign exchange to import the shortfall. Thanks to some astute diplomacy on the part of the Senanayake brothers, Robert and Dudley, Communist China – which was in a spot of bother of its own due to isolation by the West and as a result unable to secure its requirement of rubber, which Sri Lanka had in excess – was roped in for a barter arrangement where Sri Lanka was able to procure its requirement of rice in exchange for rubber. Now exactly 70 years later, we are once again in an identical situation, where a huge rice shortfall is anticipated owing to the agri policy shift and the Government is unable to find the required foreign exchange to import the shortfall in production.
It appears that history is now repeating itself, with China once again coming to the rescue. This time however there will be no barter, with Sri Lanka not offering any commodity in return for the one million metric tonnes of rice which China has promised will be a donation. While the Chinese gesture is to be appreciated, for a friend in need is a friend indeed, what begs the question is how Sri Lanka appears to have learnt nothing from the issue it first faced 70 years ago. Governments have come and governments have gone, with nearly all of them promising a ‘green revolution’ and self-sufficiency in rice, including the current one, but reality has been the opposite – with the people being made to pay for failed policies over and over again.
For far too long, the economy has been the plaything of short-sighted politicians whose only goal has been to win the next election. These politicians have not hesitated to use the nation’s limited financial resources to further their personal as well as respective parties’ political interests, little realising that there is no such thing as a free lunch and everything that is doled out has to be paid for eventually – never by them, but everyone else. Having chosen to ignore the repeated warnings of economists on how such politicking will inevitably lead to a monumental crisis, those warnings have now come to pass, and whether we like it or not, tough and painful choices will have to be made if the country is to extricate itself from the hole its politicians have dug for it.
There is, however, a ray of hope that sanity might prevail in the end. For instance, it appears to have finally dawned on the Governor of the Central Bank that unlimited money printing has, in fact, a profound effect on inflation simply going by the manner in which prices of just about everything have shot up overnight. In fact, with this sudden realisation, the Central Bank seems to have woken up from its deep slumber and introduced a slew of measures to bring things under control, although it certainly seems like a case of closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.
With a colossal Rs. 1.4 trillion said to have been printed in just 2021 alone (according to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka), we are most likely still at the teething stage of what could potentially be a bout of hyper-inflation. To put it in context, we have printed more money in the last two years than all of the other years put together since the Central Bank commenced operations in 1950. It is the public, the rich and poor alike, who will now be called upon to face the consequences of such irrationality.
Economic hardship will inevitably lead to a rise in criminal activity as the more marginalised sections of society are pushed by economic circumstances to beg, borrow, or steal to simply survive. The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) has already issued a dire warning in this regard, drawing the attention of the Government to urgently introduce measures to stabilise the economy which appears to be on autopilot with the obstacles ahead now in plain sight.
Despite grandstanding on how Sri Lanka has not defaulted on its debt obligations, what must be kept in mind is that such payment is possible only on the strength of another loan being secured to cover for it. Rating agencies, however, appear to have seen through the fog and imposed a further downgrade hours after the Government paid the maturing $ 500 million ISB last week. Given the potential for social upheaval driven primarily by economic hardship, as pointed out by BASL, it is time that the powers that be focused on those most affected by the crisis, including the farming community, and hasten to provide whatever relief that can be doled out under the prevailing circumstances.
Help for the helpless
22 Jan 2022
Help for the helpless
22 Jan 2022
A few years ago, an American politician made an interesting observation. He noted: “We have been conditioned to think that only politicians can solve our problems. But at some point, we will wake up and recognise that it was the politicians who created our problems.” One of America’s most eminent neurosurgeons and later a contender for the Republican presidential nomination, ending up as President Donald Trump’s Housing Secretary, Ben Carson certainly knew what he was talking about when he made the comment during a television interview in 2016.
For a minute, one cannot help but wonder whether Sri Lanka was on Carson’s mind because our entire political structure – from the Pradeshiya Sabha to the presidency – is rooted on that premise: ‘If you want your problems solved, elect so and so.’ Sri Lanka in the past 74 years of independence has had more than its share of problems, all of which, except for natural disasters, have been created by our own politicians with a little help from foreign manipulators. Having created issues from religious and ethnic conflicts to mega-scale corruption and destruction of national wealth and livelihoods to financial mismanagement to whatever else, at the root of it all will invariably be a politician and a failed policy.
It can be safely said that even though great strides have been made in the recent past, mainly through personal upheaval with regard to voter awareness, the average elector is still a long way off from “waking up and recognising” that it is they themselves and no one else who has brought upon this misfortune in a country that lacks nothing in terms of natural assets except oil and gas. The ‘power at any cost’ brand of politics coupled with a greedy bunch of politicians who have shown a shocking lack of foresight and integrity, save a few, must be held responsible for the plight that the country finds itself in today – reduced to a beggarly status despite pretentions otherwise.
Seventy-four years of playing pandu (ball) with critical issues have now come to a head in the form of a monumental financial crisis that has left the country in the doldrums with no other choice than to beg for even the most essential supplies. When politicians speak of national security, they tend to forget that beggars cannot be choosers and are at the mercy of the benefactors who are now lining up to put rice on our plates and fuel in our vehicles. With time will come the inevitable arm twisting in lieu of the assistance provided and the first casualty of such manoeuvring will be our sovereignty.
In 1952, when the Sri Lanka-China Rubber Rice Pact was signed, this country was facing an almost identical issue as it is facing now with rice production falling sharply and the Government not having the required foreign exchange to import the shortfall. Thanks to some astute diplomacy on the part of the Senanayake brothers, Robert and Dudley, Communist China – which was in a spot of bother of its own due to isolation by the West and as a result unable to secure its requirement of rubber, which Sri Lanka had in excess – was roped in for a barter arrangement where Sri Lanka was able to procure its requirement of rice in exchange for rubber. Now exactly 70 years later, we are once again in an identical situation, where a huge rice shortfall is anticipated owing to the agri policy shift and the Government is unable to find the required foreign exchange to import the shortfall in production.
It appears that history is now repeating itself, with China once again coming to the rescue. This time however there will be no barter, with Sri Lanka not offering any commodity in return for the one million metric tonnes of rice which China has promised will be a donation. While the Chinese gesture is to be appreciated, for a friend in need is a friend indeed, what begs the question is how Sri Lanka appears to have learnt nothing from the issue it first faced 70 years ago. Governments have come and governments have gone, with nearly all of them promising a ‘green revolution’ and self-sufficiency in rice, including the current one, but reality has been the opposite – with the people being made to pay for failed policies over and over again.
For far too long, the economy has been the plaything of short-sighted politicians whose only goal has been to win the next election. These politicians have not hesitated to use the nation’s limited financial resources to further their personal as well as respective parties’ political interests, little realising that there is no such thing as a free lunch and everything that is doled out has to be paid for eventually – never by them, but everyone else. Having chosen to ignore the repeated warnings of economists on how such politicking will inevitably lead to a monumental crisis, those warnings have now come to pass, and whether we like it or not, tough and painful choices will have to be made if the country is to extricate itself from the hole its politicians have dug for it.
There is, however, a ray of hope that sanity might prevail in the end. For instance, it appears to have finally dawned on the Governor of the Central Bank that unlimited money printing has, in fact, a profound effect on inflation simply going by the manner in which prices of just about everything have shot up overnight. In fact, with this sudden realisation, the Central Bank seems to have woken up from its deep slumber and introduced a slew of measures to bring things under control, although it certainly seems like a case of closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.
With a colossal Rs. 1.4 trillion said to have been printed in just 2021 alone (according to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka), we are most likely still at the teething stage of what could potentially be a bout of hyper-inflation. To put it in context, we have printed more money in the last two years than all of the other years put together since the Central Bank commenced operations in 1950. It is the public, the rich and poor alike, who will now be called upon to face the consequences of such irrationality.
Economic hardship will inevitably lead to a rise in criminal activity as the more marginalised sections of society are pushed by economic circumstances to beg, borrow, or steal to simply survive. The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) has already issued a dire warning in this regard, drawing the attention of the Government to urgently introduce measures to stabilise the economy which appears to be on autopilot with the obstacles ahead now in plain sight.
Despite grandstanding on how Sri Lanka has not defaulted on its debt obligations, what must be kept in mind is that such payment is possible only on the strength of another loan being secured to cover for it. Rating agencies, however, appear to have seen through the fog and imposed a further downgrade hours after the Government paid the maturing $ 500 million ISB last week. Given the potential for social upheaval driven primarily by economic hardship, as pointed out by BASL, it is time that the powers that be focused on those most affected by the crisis, including the farming community, and hasten to provide whatever relief that can be doled out under the prevailing circumstances.
Kapruka
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Discover Kapruka, the leading online shopping platform in Sri Lanka, where you can conveniently send Gifts and Flowers to your loved ones for any event. Explore a wide range of popular Shopping Categories on Kapruka, including Toys, Groceries, Electronics, Birthday Cakes, Fruits, Chocolates, Automobile, Mother and Baby Products, Clothing, and Fashion. Additionally, Kapruka offers unique online services like Money Remittance, Astrology, Medicine Delivery, and access to over 700 Top Brands. Also If you’re interested in selling with Kapruka, Partner Central by Kapruka is the best solution to start with. Moreover, through Kapruka Global Shop, you can also enjoy the convenience of purchasing products from renowned platforms like Amazon and eBay and have them delivered to Sri Lanka.Send love straight to their heart this Valentine's with our thoughtful gifts!