The current Rajapaksa government has taken the largest loan in history. Yesterday, a government minister Rohitha Abeygunawardena said that the ‘good governance’ government has taken a loan of Rs. 4433 billion but is not doing anything. What he does not know is that the amount of public and guaranteed (public and guaranteed) loans taken by the present government in the years 2020,2021, which has done nothing, is as high as Rs. 5300 billion. That is to say, the amount of loans taken by the Prosperous Government for these two years is more than those five years.
The budget presented by Basil Rajapaksa for the year 2022 also shows that approximately 3300 billion rupees will be borrowed. Of this, 2700 billion rupees or 85% is spent on debt repayment. It should be noted that this government, which talks about good governance, has not initiated a single major large scale project in the last two years.
We are all paying for this as a result of the wasteful and short-sighted economic pseudo-development illusion of the 2005-15 era that pretended to be great development.
It is a fact that we all need to understand that exciting and popular economic boasting can no longer solve Sri Lanka’s financial crisis. Also, the usual solutions offered by institutions such as the International Monetary Fund are not good in the long run except to resolve the crisis in the short term. In short, the old remedies are no longer valid.
It is impossible to even think of overcoming this economic crisis without making this country a wealth-generating country again.
First of all, it is true that we need to get out of this debt trap. To that end, we need to restructure our debt repayments. A key condition is to make our country an economist who can be trusted by the international economic and financial system. Instead of corrupt and inefficient governance, transparent and efficient governance must be established.
But in order to find a lasting solution to this problem, we must make real economic progress. A few steps are essential for that. First, managing the core of the country’s economy must be entrusted to skilled practitioners.
Second, economic priorities must be identified. Unnecessary trendy spending should be stopped. Large scale expenditure should be incurred in accordance with the national physical plan of the country and not as one might think.
Third, the agricultural and plantation sectors must be completely reorganized. Increasing productivity should be its main goal.
Fourth, we must rely more on building an innovative economy based on technology and knowledge. Only then can we mark our place in the world economy.
It is true that we, who have fallen into this dark, unfortunate well due to wrong economic decisions, must come out of the well. But we need to see the world, not the frogs. The challenge we face as a nation today is to manage the economy of this country wisely so that we do not fall into such a dark economic abyss again.
Patali Champika Ranawaka