By Savandie Abeyratna –

Savandie Abeyratna

The World Bank announced last week that ‘Sri Lanka’s economy has stabilized, with growth expected to reach 4.4% in 2024, surpassing earlier forecasts.’ This ‘good news’ has brought the political conversation to the ‘right’ path set in motion by the previous president and a sarcastic ‘kudos’ to the current president for moving in this path. In the past years where the country faced both the global and local polycrisis, macroeconomic stability has been the short term priority of all mainstream political parties. With defaulted loan repayments coming up in 2-3 years, carving a pathway for economic growth is now the next priority. Yet, what is this pathway and more importantly what is the pathway the citizens’ mandate for systems change is calling for?

‘A Thriving Nation, A Beautiful Life’ is the main tag line of the National Peoples Power (NPP) policy statement which most probably will receive the peoples mandate in the upcoming general election. While this tag line has reference to both a macro (A Thriving Nation) and micro (A Beautiful life) dream, what is becoming evident is Sri Lanka’s lack of monetary and fiscal sovereignty to do both simultaneously. Time is of the essence but life is time and how long can we wait again for a trickle down or secondary effects to create that beautiful life citizens of Sri Lanka dream of?

While the country’s economic policy prioritises debt sustainability the reality is that we are living in a planetary moment where the sustainability of all life on earth is in question. Looking at the displacements and disruptions of life with frequent flooding and other natural disasters linked to climate change, the vulnerability of Sri Lankans as dwellers of an island nation cannot be understated.

We cannot look at the economic system as a machine with predictable inputs and outputs and non-accountable externalities. While a systems approach is necessary, a fundamental change in how we view our economy is essential. Our economy is a complex social system embedded in a wider planetary ecosystem with impact pathways and feedback loops that go far beyond neo-classical economic models. What is necessary now is not just a focus on ‘balancing the books’. Peoples’ lives are out of balance with micro level deficits in time, income and trust. These are social aspects of a person’s life that can be considered fundamental to living a beautiful life. These deficits, their distribution and the reasons underpinning these are varied yet one of the main issues reproducing and exacerbating this is the externalising of various impacts of the economic system to the private sphere of the individual, household and the environment. For people what this has meant is total unsustainability with growing expenditures of basic necessities in the sphere of social reproduction from education, health, transportation and decent housing with increased vulnerability to shock and crisis. What is needed is not just balancing the domestic and external account books but balancing the various intricacies and challenges faced by a growing number of people. A tight social safety net is the need of the hour to hold those unable to hold on anymore while ensuring that the most vulnerable in society do not fall through the cracks.

‘Leave Nothing Behind’ and ‘Leave No One Behind’ can be looked at as fundamental precepts of any sane pathway to creating a sustainable nation in its broader sense. These concepts that govern the UN Sustainable Development Goals (Agenda 2023) cannot be side-lined anymore and much political will and social solidarity is going to be required to bring these fundamental issues to the centre of policy and practice. Things are easier said than done but Sri Lanka is a fine example of social solidarity with many arms of the state already laying a basic foundation for a beautiful life from access to free health, education as well as multiple state subsidies and welfare programs. While a foundation exists as a democratic socialist state, it has been eroded and is presently not strong enough to withstand the local and global polyciris as well as creditor pressures. Therefore, the main challenge for the new government is to simultaneously maintain macro-economic stability and social stability.

The wheel does not need to be reinvented but time cannot be wasted. It is time to look at how existing systems of social solidarity can be further strengthened to support social reproduction while making connections with the sphere of economic production. There is no need to look far, a rapid needs assessment and gap analysis to uncover the weaknesses, leakages and pressing public needs in the existing public health, education, transportation and housing systems can shed light to quick response strategies that can provide some form of relief to those struggling the most as we transition. It is only through a social and solidarity economy that we can reach the vision of a thriving nation and a beautiful life. Furthermore, the shift to a circular economy is no longer something that should be left to academic debates and corporate social responsibility campaigns whether they are attempts at green washing or not. Paying less attention to these fundamental building blocks of the economy (the social and the ecological) can only make the NPP vision another century long dream. Many things are in place and there is much hope on the horizon. However, much more needs to be done in terms of pre-distribution and redistribution policies calling for a tight ideological leadership and position in guiding the new government. With the right adjustments and connections much can be achieved to make the policy statement a proximate reality.