{"id":230602,"date":"2023-01-05T01:26:50","date_gmt":"2023-01-04T19:56:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=230602"},"modified":"2023-01-12T21:41:12","modified_gmt":"2023-01-12T16:11:12","slug":"rws-perpetual-diagnosis-instead-of-cures-for-the-countrys-economic-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/rws-perpetual-diagnosis-instead-of-cures-for-the-countrys-economic-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"RW\u2019s Perpetual Diagnosis Instead Of Cures For The Country\u2019s Economic Crisis\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

By P. Soma Palan<\/a> \u2013<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

P. Soma Palan<\/p><\/div>\n

It is several months since Ranil Wickremesinghe<\/a><\/span> became the President of Sri Lanka after the popular uprising , the \u201cAragalaya<\/a><\/span>\u201d, which drove ruling President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa<\/a><\/span>, to flee the country and the Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa<\/a><\/span> to resign. The country is in deep economic crisis with unending intermittent Power cuts for months, and escalating cost of living emasculating the life of the entire population. The country needs urgent, concrete, purposive action to redeem the dire situation we are faced with. Instead, the President is preoccupied with speeches, within and outside Parliament, constantly diagnosing the Economic crisis, instead of offering cures for the economic crisis. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In his Budget Speech for 2023, the President brags about saying that, \u201cJapan at the time of our Independence had the most developed economy in Asia. It is well known that we were second in Asia\u201d (vide DM of 15.11.22). <\/b>He little realizes that this was solely due to the competence, management skill, efficiency and scrupulous moral sense and integrity of our colonial rulers. This prosperity was a legacy of colonial rule and not a creation of ours. The rot started when we started ruling ourselves from 1948. This material regression he points out was due to our failure to follow Lee Kwan Yew of Singapore who said that \u201cIn Singapore, I followed the hard, but the right path. Sri Lanka\u2019s Bandaranaike followed the popular path\u201d. <\/b>This is true, the \u201cpopular decisions\u201d taken to make the Sinhala Language the only official national language in 24 hours, nationalization of the Plantation Industry, and other private Industries, transport, setting up of State Owned Enterprises, led to economic decline, and communal politics resulting in a separatist civil war for 30years. But these are remote causes for the general decline of the country. The actual cause for the current economic debacle and bankruptcy and erosion of the country\u2019s foreign dollar reserves is due to bribery and corruption, which is left unsaid. Obviously so, because, how could one say the real cause when one is not free of the taint of corruption, himself?<\/p>\n

The primary cause for the economic crisis and country\u2019s bankruptcy is the bribery and corruption tied up with Project loans from China. Loan and Interest repayments during the rule of the Rajapaksas, drained away our Dollar Reserves. Projects loans at inflated costs which siphoned off Commissions for self-enrichment, with dollars stacked away in foreign Banks. It is plain and simple financial embezzlement of public funds.<\/p>\n

What the country need is less talking and more positive action to restore the country\u2019s economic and financial stability. The President \u201cpledges to build an economy capable of settling the country\u2019s debts\u201d. <\/b>What we need is not vocal pledges but start doing things to revive the economy. Further, he diagnoses that \u201cthe country has become bankrupt due to the failure to change the economic programme after the war, but he expects to increase Investment opportunities and move the economy forward by next year.\u201d( vide DM of 15.12.22). <\/b>Note well, he is linking bankruptcy to the failure to change the economic programme after the war. The President is intently deflecting the primary cause of bribery and corruption of the Rajapaksa rule to one of country\u2019s \u201cfailure to change the economic programme after the war\u201d. <\/b>The intention is clear, to absolve the Rajapaksas from the responsibility for the economic crisis. The economic crisis and bankruptcy was directly due to gross mismanagement of the country\u2019s economy, and the bribery and corruption of the rulers. There is not a word mentioned about any initiation of action to reclaim and recover the indirect stolen funds of the country by a process of investigation, with the help of those countries, where the Dollars are held in Bank accounts of the discredited Political rulers. This should be the first step, before\u00a0\u201dany pledges of building an economy by investment opportunities and move the economy forward by next year\u201d. <\/b>What is needed is purposive action not articulation of prospective pledges for the future. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The President engaging in puerile analogies is no substitute for action-oriented work. He states that,\u201dVietnam\u2019s economy today is like a Formula One racing car. Our economy is still like a three wheeler. So, how do we go about racing in Singapore.\u00a0<\/span>If we are to win we must also find ourselves a racing car. It should have a good engine.\u201d <\/b>Further, he diagnoses that \u201cthe country has become bankrupt due to the failure to change the economic programme after the war and he expects to<\/b> increase investment opportunities and move the economy forward by next year.\u201d(vide DM 15.12.22).<\/b><\/p>\n

The President\u2018s penchant for new institutions, transform existing ones and combining them, instead of increasing the efficiency, effectiveness and productivity of the existing institutions created for specific objectives. President states that \u201cthere is a need for an Institutional system that can revive the country\u2019s economy and bring Investments; Steps will be taken to create an Economic Corporation by merging the Investment Promotion Division of the Sri Lanka Board of Investment and the Export Development Board\u201d. <\/b>It means he is conceding that the Institutions already in place have failed to deliver the results mandated to them. The answer is not cutting the limb of one and joining with the other and creating one consolidated whole called an Economic Corporation. It is only a cosmetic change of name. Further, it will incur financial cost in providing office space and also the need to have top level management positions, with high salaries, perks and vehicles etc. This is a studied method employed to appoint friends and political cronies to high positions. There is no guarantee the unified Economic Corporation\u00a0 <\/span>not going the same way, as its previous two limbs. Further, what are our overseas Ambassadors\/High Commissioners doing, apart from their routine duties and functions? Shouldn\u2019t they pro-actively, visibly and tangibly get investment opportunities and export markets for their country, supplementary to those local Institutions in place? We are only multiplying Institutions, like Economic Corporation, instead of using the existing channels to produce results.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":156,"featured_media":228931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-230602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nRW\u2019s Perpetual Diagnosis Instead Of Cures For The Country\u2019s Economic Crisis\u00a0 - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/rws-perpetual-diagnosis-instead-of-cures-for-the-countrys-economic-crisis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"RW\u2019s Perpetual Diagnosis Instead Of Cures For The Country\u2019s Economic Crisis\u00a0 - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/rws-perpetual-diagnosis-instead-of-cures-for-the-countrys-economic-crisis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-04T19:56:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-12T16:11:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/President-Ranil-Wickremesinghe.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"P. Soma Palan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"P. Soma Palan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/rws-perpetual-diagnosis-instead-of-cures-for-the-countrys-economic-crisis\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/rws-perpetual-diagnosis-instead-of-cures-for-the-countrys-economic-crisis\/\",\"name\":\"RW\u2019s Perpetual Diagnosis Instead Of Cures For The Country\u2019s Economic Crisis\u00a0 - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/rws-perpetual-diagnosis-instead-of-cures-for-the-countrys-economic-crisis\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/rws-perpetual-diagnosis-instead-of-cures-for-the-countrys-economic-crisis\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/President-Ranil-Wickremesinghe.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-04T19:56:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-12T16:11:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6079cadd76256346609df5d667700d07\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/rws-perpetual-diagnosis-instead-of-cures-for-the-countrys-economic-crisis\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/rws-perpetual-diagnosis-instead-of-cures-for-the-countrys-economic-crisis\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/rws-perpetual-diagnosis-instead-of-cures-for-the-countrys-economic-crisis\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/President-Ranil-Wickremesinghe.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/President-Ranil-Wickremesinghe.jpeg\",\"width\":900,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"President Ranil Wickremesinghe\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/rws-perpetual-diagnosis-instead-of-cures-for-the-countrys-economic-crisis\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"RW\u2019s Perpetual Diagnosis Instead Of Cures For The Country\u2019s Economic Crisis\u00a0\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6079cadd76256346609df5d667700d07\",\"name\":\"P. Soma Palan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/51dd005693e105b7c2ac1fc3031b02ee89b843f3d1ae57fefba06a510fd717f4?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/51dd005693e105b7c2ac1fc3031b02ee89b843f3d1ae57fefba06a510fd717f4?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"P. Soma Palan\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/somapalan\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"RW\u2019s Perpetual Diagnosis Instead Of Cures For The Country\u2019s Economic Crisis\u00a0 - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/rws-perpetual-diagnosis-instead-of-cures-for-the-countrys-economic-crisis\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"RW\u2019s Perpetual Diagnosis Instead Of Cures For The Country\u2019s Economic Crisis\u00a0 - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[…]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/rws-perpetual-diagnosis-instead-of-cures-for-the-countrys-economic-crisis\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2023-01-04T19:56:50+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-01-12T16:11:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":900,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/President-Ranil-Wickremesinghe.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"P. Soma Palan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"P. Soma Palan","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/rws-perpetual-diagnosis-instead-of-cures-for-the-countrys-economic-crisis\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/rws-perpetual-diagnosis-instead-of-cures-for-the-countrys-economic-crisis\/","name":"RW\u2019s Perpetual Diagnosis Instead Of Cures For The Country\u2019s Economic Crisis\u00a0 - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/rws-perpetual-diagnosis-instead-of-cures-for-the-countrys-economic-crisis\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/rws-perpetual-diagnosis-instead-of-cures-for-the-countrys-economic-crisis\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/President-Ranil-Wickremesinghe.jpeg","datePublished":"2023-01-04T19:56:50+00:00","dateModified":"2023-01-12T16:11:12+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6079cadd76256346609df5d667700d07"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/rws-perpetual-diagnosis-instead-of-cures-for-the-countrys-economic-crisis\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/rws-perpetual-diagnosis-instead-of-cures-for-the-countrys-economic-crisis\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/rws-perpetual-diagnosis-instead-of-cures-for-the-countrys-economic-crisis\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/President-Ranil-Wickremesinghe.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/President-Ranil-Wickremesinghe.jpeg","width":900,"height":600,"caption":"President Ranil Wickremesinghe"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/rws-perpetual-diagnosis-instead-of-cures-for-the-countrys-economic-crisis\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"RW\u2019s Perpetual Diagnosis Instead Of Cures For The Country\u2019s Economic Crisis\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6079cadd76256346609df5d667700d07","name":"P. Soma Palan","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/51dd005693e105b7c2ac1fc3031b02ee89b843f3d1ae57fefba06a510fd717f4?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/51dd005693e105b7c2ac1fc3031b02ee89b843f3d1ae57fefba06a510fd717f4?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"P. Soma Palan"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/somapalan\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/President-Ranil-Wickremesinghe.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/156"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230602"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230602\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":230604,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230602\/revisions\/230604"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}