{"id":241278,"date":"2025-03-20T07:46:02","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T02:16:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=241278"},"modified":"2025-04-03T21:24:53","modified_gmt":"2025-04-03T15:54:53","slug":"fixing-sri-lankas-economy-a-governance-approach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fixing-sri-lankas-economy-a-governance-approach\/","title":{"rendered":"Fixing Sri Lanka\u2019s Economy: A Governance Approach"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Mark Salter<\/a>\u00a0\u2013<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Mark Salter<\/p><\/div>\n

In a new <\/i>Policy Brief<\/i><\/span><\/a><\/span> from the <\/i>Centre for Policy Alternatives<\/i><\/span><\/a><\/span> (CPA)\u2019s Shahane de Silva outlines a governance-directed approach to addressing Sri Lanka\u2019s continuing economic challenges. <\/i><\/p>\n

Ever since Sri Lanka\u2019s 2022 economic meltdown, it has been popular \u2013 if not the mainstream\u00a0 <\/span>consensus – to argue that the country\u2019s travails were chiefly the result of poor economic decision-making and policy. Absent swinging tax cuts and a decision to go organic in agricultural production, so the argument goes, things would (probably) have gone a whole lot better for the country.<\/p>\n

But other approaches to understanding the economic crisis are increasingly in evidence, not least a so-called \u2019governance approach\u2019 to understanding the country\u2019s economic travails? In his foreword to this Policy Brief CPA Director Paikiasothy Saravannamuttu emphasizes the \u2018overarching governance dimension of the [Sri Lankan} crisis\u2019, arguing\u00a0 <\/span>that \u2018misgovernance has been rife throughout successive post-independence governments\u2019: allegedly, its accumulated burden was \u2018exacerbated by certain decisions of the over last decade in particular\u2019 and \u2018brought to a head [in] the crisis of 2022\u2019: an argument earlier put forward in the \u2018Civil Society Governance Diagnostic and the IMF Governance Diagnostic of Sri Lanka\u2019<\/span><\/a><\/span> produced in response to the 2022 crisis.<\/p>\n

The Brief identifies a series of key governance areas that the author sees as requiring urgent reform. First, the current concentration of power within the executive presidency. While it is suggested that this concentration of powers, originally instantiated in JR Jayewardene\u2019s 1978 Constitution, was intended to promote \u2018decisive action towards economic development\u2019, the Brief argues that in practice this has resulted in \u2018unilateral and opaque decision-making\u2019, in turn facilitating \u2018incompetence or corruption\u2019. It\u2019s not hard to find examples of this phenomenon in recent history, not least in Gotabaya Rajapaksa\u2019s catastrophic presidency, notably the agriculturally disastrous decision to order an overnight switch to organic farming in spring 2020.<\/p>\n

The suggested remedy has three components. The first is constitutional reform, centred on abolition of the executive presidency – long-promised, but never delivered by a succession of governments \u2013 and its replacement by a (return to) collective decision-making within a democratic parliamentary framework: a proposal that seems both eminently sensible and supported by many in the country. In this context one can only hope, too, that current President Anura Kumara Dissanayake<\/a><\/span> will prove himself to be more visionary \u2013 and true to his electoral word \u2013 than many of his predecessors with respect to introducing fundamental reforms.<\/p>\n

Second, the Brief argues that government expenditure in the public sector, deemed to be \u2018excessive and [with] little impact\u2019, needs to be significantly downsized, not least with a view to improving \u2018service delivery\u2019. The military is proposed as an emblematic example of an area in which \u2018spending on far too many personnel \u2026 does not translate [in]to [meeting] the country\u2019s defensive needs\u2019. Details are a little thin on the ground here, and the principle proposed, that outlays should be \u2018proportionate to each government department’s needs\u2019, seems self-evident. Equally clear, too, is the fact that downsizing Sri Lanka\u2019s bloated public sector will be politically challenging \u2013 not least for an NPP government whose core electorate includes many of its employees.<\/p>\n

Third, with respect to the plethora of state-owned enterprises (SoEs), the Brief suggests that the state needs to have a \u2018coherent rationale for engaging in the market\u2019. In this context it argues that the Sri Lankan state should simply exit \u2018competitive markets where the private sector can deliver goods and services \u2018more cheaply, efficiently, and at better quality\u2019: a policy prescription that suggests major change, with the state retreating into economic control of \u2018natural\u2019 monopolies such as railways, water and electricity\u2019, divesting itself of white elephants such as Sri Lankan Airlines and allowing the private sector full rein to manage them.<\/p>\n

While in principle supportive of appropriate privatizations, this author needs to register a cautionary note based on his own country \u2013 the UK\u2019s \u2013 experience during the 1980s and beyond. Simply put, the UK\u2019s experiment with, for example, privatization of\/in the railways<\/span><\/span><\/a> and health service<\/span><\/a><\/span> demonstrates clearly that it is not a magic wand that can be waved at economic policy challenges in a bid to make them simply go away.<\/p>\n

In a country such as Sri Lanka with robust traditions of social solidarity and equity, it is critical that, for example, decisions on privatization be taken with a clear understanding of who will benefit \u2013 and who will lose out. And in this context it is encouraging to hear the Brief\u2019s author discuss, in an accompanying interview<\/span><\/a><\/span>, the importance of, for example, providing vocational training to those \u2013 be they soldiers or bureaucrats \u2013 who stand to lose their jobs in the context of workforce reductions and\/or privatization.<\/p>\n

Finally, the Brief focuses on the vexed question of corruption, which every Sri Lankan knows to be one of the country\u2019s major \u2013 and all-pervasive \u2013 challenges. Here the Brief rightly points out that a wider culture of impunity, in particular a prevailing \u2018absence of punitive action against corruption\u2019 has \u2018resulted in its prevalence throughout government\u2019. To address this it argues that first and foremost, anti-corruption measures \u2013 legal, structural and practical – need to be both \u2018shielded from political influence\u2019, \u2018sufficiently resourced to recover losses due to corruption\u2019, and most importantly to all, to serve as a practical \u2018deterrent\u2019 against corruption.<\/p>\n

In this context, moreover, it proposes two practical measures, both long advocated by anti-corruption activists, as first steps in this direction: secure political autonomy for the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery and Corruption (CIABOC); and, mindful of the conflict of interest inherent in the Office of the Attorney General\u2019s functioning, the establishment of an independent Public Prosecutor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

All in all this a useful, future-orientated Brief of which the Sri Lankan government, no less than political parties, civil society and other actors would do well to take note.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":240582,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2186,46,8,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-241278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-featured-news","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"\nFixing Sri Lanka\u2019s Economy: A Governance Approach - 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\/fixing-sri-lankas-economy-a-governance-approach\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fixing Sri Lanka\u2019s Economy: A Governance Approach - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fixing-sri-lankas-economy-a-governance-approach\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-20T02:16:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-03T15:54:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Anura-Kumara-Dissanayake-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"632\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark Salter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark Salter\" \/>\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\/fixing-sri-lankas-economy-a-governance-approach\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fixing-sri-lankas-economy-a-governance-approach\/\",\"name\":\"Fixing Sri Lanka\u2019s Economy: A Governance Approach - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fixing-sri-lankas-economy-a-governance-approach\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fixing-sri-lankas-economy-a-governance-approach\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Anura-Kumara-Dissanayake-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-20T02:16:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-03T15:54:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/14bff4cb5c4fa4785ee672e674240f66\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fixing-sri-lankas-economy-a-governance-approach\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fixing-sri-lankas-economy-a-governance-approach\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fixing-sri-lankas-economy-a-governance-approach\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Anura-Kumara-Dissanayake-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Anura-Kumara-Dissanayake-1.jpg\",\"width\":900,\"height\":632},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fixing-sri-lankas-economy-a-governance-approach\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Fixing Sri Lanka\u2019s Economy: A Governance Approach\"}]},{\"@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\/14bff4cb5c4fa4785ee672e674240f66\",\"name\":\"Mark Salter\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1430a461027440f210f298f18d7bb3b4f1b97182491f2c32654e54c73810e30f?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1430a461027440f210f298f18d7bb3b4f1b97182491f2c32654e54c73810e30f?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mark Salter\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/marksalt\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Fixing Sri Lanka\u2019s Economy: A Governance Approach - 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\/fixing-sri-lankas-economy-a-governance-approach\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Fixing Sri Lanka\u2019s Economy: A Governance Approach - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[…]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fixing-sri-lankas-economy-a-governance-approach\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2025-03-20T02:16:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-04-03T15:54:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":900,"height":632,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Anura-Kumara-Dissanayake-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Mark Salter","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mark Salter","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fixing-sri-lankas-economy-a-governance-approach\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fixing-sri-lankas-economy-a-governance-approach\/","name":"Fixing Sri Lanka\u2019s Economy: A Governance Approach - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fixing-sri-lankas-economy-a-governance-approach\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fixing-sri-lankas-economy-a-governance-approach\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Anura-Kumara-Dissanayake-1.jpg","datePublished":"2025-03-20T02:16:02+00:00","dateModified":"2025-04-03T15:54:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/14bff4cb5c4fa4785ee672e674240f66"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fixing-sri-lankas-economy-a-governance-approach\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fixing-sri-lankas-economy-a-governance-approach\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fixing-sri-lankas-economy-a-governance-approach\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Anura-Kumara-Dissanayake-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Anura-Kumara-Dissanayake-1.jpg","width":900,"height":632},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fixing-sri-lankas-economy-a-governance-approach\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Fixing Sri Lanka\u2019s Economy: A Governance Approach"}]},{"@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\/14bff4cb5c4fa4785ee672e674240f66","name":"Mark Salter","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1430a461027440f210f298f18d7bb3b4f1b97182491f2c32654e54c73810e30f?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1430a461027440f210f298f18d7bb3b4f1b97182491f2c32654e54c73810e30f?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Mark Salter"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/marksalt\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Anura-Kumara-Dissanayake-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241278","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\/419"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241278"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":241288,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241278\/revisions\/241288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}