- One must give credit where credit is due.
- Interest rates are down, exchange rate is stable, some imports are allowed, inflation is coming down, tourism is performing well, FDI is going up, Stock market up.
President Ranil Wickramasinghe has delivered, he has turned a Shakespearean tragedy into an unbelievable success story. Those who claimed RW didn’t have a right to accept the presidency, now fear that he will take majority at the next elections. He traveled the world not with a huge delegation but with a few and his weapons of choice were his immense knowledge, experience and wit. He has represented our nation like no other and it is obvious that, given a second term in office, he can and will out perform all others.
When the president took over chaos prevailed in the country ,rationality and reality were not the order of the day. There was no electricity or gas in the country. The citizens were in shock with a Aragalaya burning the present presidents house and creating havoc in the country .People had to queue for hours on end in order to obtain the little petrol and diesel available in the country.
Both the IMF deal and the latest domestic debt restructuring have been resoundingly successful. The naysayers who are a plenty in our nation (depending on which political party they are most aligned to) are not very pleased . The country’s success (which does not help their political ambitions) are a dampener for their power hungry ambitions and counter productive plans . They hoped the IMF deal would not to become a reality and that the domestic debt restructuring would be a failure. Their rhetoric about EPF /ETF loosing out and bank deposits being at risk were all but a damp squib. Alas it was a success! Now the naysayers (in their frustration) are putting on their second cap of ‘conspiracy theorist’ which is a common trait found in the DNA of our island nation. They know these stories will be proven wrong in time to come.
The Sri Lankan economy was akin to a patient in the ICU with no pulse. However, the President and the Governor played as a team and with surgical precision resurrected a failing economy. Economic and fiscal strategy was their medicine and it paid off. The patient is now in the recovery bay and all the vitals are looking good. Inflation is low, interest rates are dropping everyday, the exchange rate is stabilising with minimum intervention, some imports are being allowed, tourism is making a remarkable comeback, FDI has started to flow in and the stock market reflects the positive sentiment that prevails today. All these positives will definitely hurt those who are negative for ulterior motives ,However it is high time that we citizens identify the agendas of these people and their corrupt strategy of ‘power at all cost’.
The present Governor is a man who was, initially, not given his due place and more or less made to retire. However, as fate would have it, Nadalal Weerasinghe, the present head of the Central Bank, was offered the job last year. He accepted the post of Governor at a crucial time in the country.
Before his retirement Dr Weerasinghe in his capacity as the senior deputy Governor had warned the powers be of the impending calamity. However, the one time all powerful secretary of the administration (whom everyone knows) in his usual arrogance refused to heed the warnings resulting in disastrous consequences for the nation.
So let us give credit where credit is due and criticise when necessary. Let us not place our agendas before our country and support this island nations resilient economy to full recovery.
However it is prudent to note that lot still remains to be resolved. Beginning with lower interest rates for example, if tourism is the catalyst to rebound the economy and bring in the much needed FX we need to look at the interest rates at least for this industry. We also have to Free imports of raw material.
Certainly the economy is moving in the right direction.
