Cabraal’s Bravado & GR’s Thought Bubbles

By Ameer Ali –OCTOBER 8, 2020

Dr. Ameer Ali

State Minister Ajith Nivard Cabraal’s bravado about the economy was more to satisfy the gallery than to convince the discerning. Economists have not forgotten Cabraal’s gamble in 2012 with Greek bonds worth 22 million Euros, when he was the Governor of Central Bank and which ended in a loss of 3.4 billion rupees to the country. He has now dismissed the need to seek assistance from IMF’s Rapid Financing Instrument, is guaranteeing effective debt service management, confident of increasing Foreign Direct Investment once the Port City Legislation is completed in a month’s time, and assuring strength in the country’s financial viability and external reserves. Given this deceptively coloured rosy picture he was questioning the legitimacy of Moody’s down grading of Sri Lanka’s credit rating, and said that he was talking to several rating agencies, explaining to them about the steady state of the economy.  In the meantime, Corona’s third wave is already warning him about false confidence.

While the State Minister tries to inject an element of resilience amidst a pandemic driven recession, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on the other hand, has hurriedly cancelled, for reasons best known to himself, the badly needed Colombo Light Rail Transport Project, funded by Japan at a cost of $2.2 billion at 0.1 per cent interest rate, repayable over 40 years with another 12 years grace period. This cancellation, after spending already about 19 million dollars on preliminary works, was justified publicly on the dubious argument of ‘high cost and low return’. How did he estimate the low return? Actually speaking, only those nearly 2 million passengers entering Colombo Municipality Council limits daily would know the real benefit of this project. With increasing population and economic push from countryside that number is set to increase in the future, which will make commuting even more hazardous and time consuming. Even then, how would the government compare the benefits from this investment with the $104.3 million investment on the Lotus Tower, with money borrowed from China’s EXIM Bank at the rate of 11% interest? Or, how great are the benefits from the Mattala Airport built by China at a cost of $270 million? And, what was the benefit in monetary terms from Sooriyawewa Cricket Stadium which cost Rs.2 billion? The present regime has an all-time record of creating white elephants in the name of development. Now it has cancelled a worthwhile project that really has long term benefits for millions of passengers entering CMC area by cutting time wasted on roads owing to traffic congestion. The new traffic rules introduced recently has worsened the situation and will push economic productivity downwards. 

Be that as it may, it is time the people are told of the true picture about the economy. This is because, economic agencies like the Central Bank has surrendered their independence at the feet of the President. The president, soon after appointing the new Professor Governor, got frustrated with the academic’s intellectual financial economics, hurriedly called a meeting with member of the Monetary Board and told them in no uncertain terms that they should assist implementing his economic policy. The President then went on to appoint his own men and woman to the Board to make it more compliant. The Central Bank soon accelerated money printing and argued that it was increasing liquidity to revive the economy. Where is the Bank’s much touted independence? It is because of this brazen political interference in the operation of high powered economic and financial institutions that one has doubts about the government’s published information about the economy. Cabraal’s bravado is part of this game.

Borrowing from one source to service debt incurred from another is no way to become debt free. Not only that, it is a crime for the living generation to pass its debt burden to coming generations, who are not party to current mismanagement. No one seems to question the apparent injustice buried in this modern transfer problem. This is why the country needs a comprehensive economic plan with pragmatic targets and time line to reach those targets, along with market-based incentives to mobilize all available resources, mainly human. The emerging political order with expected constitutional changes is a discouragement to such a coordinated and collective task. That order will be Stalinist but nepotist and divisive. 

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